


The Family Business

by MikaRei



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alcohol, Angst and Feels, Anti-Possession Tattoos, Attempt at Humor, Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Language, F/M, Friendship/Love, Implied Sexual Content, Inappropriate Humor, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Siblings, Season/Series 07, Sisters, Tags May Change, Tattoos, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-30 23:06:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 49,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6445933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikaRei/pseuds/MikaRei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Bobby's death, Sam and Dean find that they're not the only hunter kids he's cared for in his time. They meet Alyssa and Sydney Wieger, some girls in their last leg of college before the boys have come to thrust them right back into the hunting world with their news of Bobby's death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. From an Ending Comes a New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Most of the time when describing a "contemplative look" I'm usually trying to describe this facial expression because I literally have no idea how else to describe it besides possibly "not bad" or "huh":
> 
> [1](http://www.survivingcollege.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Sam-Winchester-GIFs-Supernatural-Jared-Padalecki-WTF-face.gif)
> 
> [2](http://media0.giphy.com/media/xkYkgcptz3OmI/giphy.gif)
> 
> [3](https://media.giphy.com/media/443fYiSW832Cs/giphy.gif)
> 
> [4](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9f/5d/cd/9f5dcd0b0599f4da1d9878116d0c9f40.jpg)
> 
> [5](http://www.thewinchesterfamilybusiness.com/images/Marleen/Dean/image008.jpg)

_Boys, if you’re reading this that means something’s happened to me. I need you to do something for me – I need you to find some people. As you can see there’s a list of addresses attached, the one not crossed out is the most recent address I have for them. The people you are looking for are two girls named Sydney and Alyssa Wieger. Tell them all about whatever has happened to me. They need to know. Everything I’ve got left I want to go to the four of you. Tell the girls I love them and I’m proud of them. That goes for the two of you too._

_Bobby_

Sam and Dean read the letter over before looking at the list Bobby had mentioned in the letter.

“Well, looks like we’re heading to Alabama.” Sam said looking at the last uncrossed address.

 

 

It was late at night when the boys finally reached Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Tuscaloosa was a large, busy town that pretty much centered around the college the girls went to – the University of Alabama.

“Definitely a college town.” Sam commented, taking in the sights.

The address led them to a quaint home in one of the nicer neighborhoods in the town. Dean parked the Dodge Challenger into their driveway and then went to the front door with Sam. They rang the doorbell but it appeared that no one was home. Right when they turned around to go back to their car the next door neighbors just got home. They were an older couple and noticed the boys on their way inside.

“Are you looking for the girls?” the older woman asked.

“Yeah, we’re friends from out of town. We got here a little later than planned.” Sam turned on the old friendly and inviting smile.

“They might still be working at their jobs over at that one place, Mugshots, I believe. They’re such hardworking girls.”

“Thank you, have a nice night.” The boys waved before heading to find Mugshots.

 

 

 

It didn’t take them long to find the bar and grill called Mugshots. Even though it was late at night on a Tuesday, it was pretty packed. Tons of college kids were reveling and imbibing to their hearts content. When Sam and Dean walked up to the hostess podium they asked if Alyssa and Sydney were working tonight. The hostess indulged them telling them that they would find both of the girls at the bar. Sam and Dean quickly snatched two open seats – almost having to fight with some frat-looking guys over them. Once seated, they were immediately greeted by a short girl with long blonde hair who was presumably one of the bartenders.

“Hi there! Welcome to Mugshots. I’m Alyssa. What can I get for ya? Would you like to see our menu?” She said flashing a bright smile.

“Uh yes, please. I’m actually starving, thanks.” Dean said.

“Awesome! We’ve got some killer burgers and pretty darn good drinks too, if I do say so myself.” Alyssa said with a wink.

“Just let me know once you’ve decided and I’ll get you squared right away.”

And with that she was gone as quick as she came, going to tend to the many other patrons who were calling after her obnoxiously. The other bartender behind the bar with her turned out to be Sydney, a tall girl with black hair and glasses.

“Well that didn’t take long. Now we just gotta figure out how to talk to them alone.” Sam said before looking over to see his brother drooling over the menu.

“Dude, these burgers sound so good right now.”

“Really, dude?” Sam said giving Dean an exasperated look.

“I was serious when I said I was starving, man. Now hurry up and decide what you want so we can order.” Dean said giving a serious look while scouring the menu.

Right as Alyssa had made her way back towards the boys, they waved her over,

“We’re ready now. I’d like the all-American burger and a couple beers.” Dean said handing his menu back to her.

“I’ll take the Crane Sisters’ salad and beer too, please.” Sam said doing the same.

“Oooo nice choices! Both of those are good! I’ll have those coming right up. Would you like those beers on tap or bottle?”

“Bottle, please.”

“Sure thing! I’ll go put these orders in for y’all right now!” She said smiling.

She walked away to stop by Sydney, asking,

“Hey, could you get those two over there bottled beers, please?”

“Yeah, no problem.” The taller girl said nodding her head at her shorter sister.

“Thanks, sweetie.” Alyssa said then disappeared through a door to the kitchen.

“Hey there! My name is Sydney. Here are those beers you wanted. Is there anything else I can get for you two?” Sydney said smiling at Sam and Dean.

“Uh yeah, could you tell us where we could find a good place to sleep?” Sam asked.

“Oh! New around here? Visiting the college?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Dean commented.

“Well there are tons of places to stay at. This is a college town after all. I’d say google would be your best friend in this case though. I’ve never actually stayed at any of the hotels here.” Sydney said with a laugh.

“Oh, well thank you anyway.” Sam said.

“Sorry I couldn’t be more help. Well if that’s all y’all needed then I’m gonna go and check on my other customers. Have a nice night!” She said with a smile and a wave.

Shortly after, Alyssa returned with their meals.

“Here’s the all-American and Crane Sisters’ salad y’all ordered. Do you need any more beer?”

“Yes, please.”

“Alright, here you go. Enjoy your meals!” And she was gone once again to help her other patrons.

Sam and Dean ate their meals – Dean with great relish – and drank their beers, trying to figure out how they would break the news to the two girls.

“Well, they seem like they’re pretty good bartenders. But I wonder if they’re actually hunters too?” Dean said, taking his last bite of burger.

“Considering they knew Bobby, they probably are – or at least know all about what we do.” Sam said, wiping his mouth.

“True. Welp, guess it’s time to get this show on the road.” Dean said, pushing his plate forward to signal he had finished.

“Hi guys! How were the meals?” Alyssa said, popping up after having seen the signal.

“They were great, thanks.” Sam said smiling.

Alyssa was picking up their plates and about to head away when Dean cut in,

“Actually, I was wondering if we could talk to you and your sister, Sydney. Alone.”

Alyssa’s friendly smile and attitude suddenly dropped into a suspicious frown. With her brows knit together, she asked,

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“We’re Sam and Dean Winchester. Bobby sent us.” Sam said in a soothing tone to dispel the sudden distrust.

Her brows shot up in surprise,

“Hold on.”

Then she was gone with the plates, heading to the kitchen, dragging Sydney with her as soon as she passed her.

Moments later they were both back and headed toward the boys,

“We’re getting off now. Let’s go to our place to talk.”

 

 

 

Soon enough they were parking their two separate cars into the girls’ driveway. On their way out of the restaurant, the bar patrons all called after Alyssa and Sydney wanting them to stay. The boys were surprised at how popular the two were. They thought the girls would be like them – hunters who would never be known to the regular populace. When they initially headed to their cars, Sam had commented,

“Quite the following you guys have.”

The girls looked at each other and smirked before Alyssa reached into her bra, pulling out a large wad of cash, and said,

“It pays to provide great service and a smile.”

Dean’s brows rose and he gave a contemplative look before he continued on his way. Sam stood with his brows raised as well but his mouth slightly agape. They stopped and pointed out their ride – the blue Dodge Challenger Dean and Sam had “procured” because of “various reasons” instead of their normal black Impala – before continuing to follow the girls to their car. The girls’ ride was a white Honda Accord, to which Dean frowned.

“What’s with the douchebag car?” Dean complained.

“I’m sorry? I like having good gas mileage and a car from this century. Besides, anything is better than that blue piece of hooptie crap you’re driving. Where the hell did you pick that thing up anyway; the dump?” Alyssa scowled back before getting into the driver’s seat of her car.

“Bad move, friend. Shouldn’t have insulted her baby.” Sydney snickered and got into the Honda with her sister.

Sam smirked while Dean narrowed his eyes at his brother and got into said piece of blue crap.

Back at the girls’ house, Sydney was opening the garage. In it revealed a silver Toyota truck. Sydney went up and tapped it lovingly,

“This here is **my** baby.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes and went past Sydney while Sam and Dean looked around the garage in admiration. It was well organized with tools, shelves, and a couple cabinets lining the walls. A large freezer sat nearest the door leading into the house. While Alyssa and Sydney waited for them to catch up, Sydney raised a brow,

“What? You guys never see a garage before?”

“No, it’s not that it’s just –” Sam started,

“Never saw a chick’s garage look like this before.” Dean finished.

“What are we; animals? God forbid we like organization and use tools too.” Alyssa said annoyed before opening the door and walking inside.

After making it inside, Sam and Dean had some more admiring to do. The house was tastefully eclectic and well furnished. Artwork and signs of different hobbies frequented all about. On the mantle of the entertainment center, above a flat screen TV, sat a framed picture of a couple with two young girls resembling Sydney and Alyssa. Just like the garage, everything was neat and organized. It was so much different from what Sam and Dean were used to with Bobby.

“You guys sure you knew Bobby? It’s so nice in here and the garage compared to Bobby’s place.”

“Why do you think we like it so clean? After living in that house with all that hoarder crap for as long as we did, wanting cleanliness and organization is a given. Living there drove my OCD tendencies up the wall for sure.” Alyssa smirked leaning up against the island in the kitchen.

“Wait, you guys lived with Bobby before?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, long story short; mom and dad were hunters that knew him. Mom and dad got killed by demons and Bobby showed up for the job. Helped us kill those sons of bitches and then took us in. He’s basically our second father.” Sydney explained while grabbing two angry orchards and two beers from the fridge.

Alyssa frowned at the mention of the demons and solemnly took the hard cider her sister offered her. Sam looked at Dean when Sydney said Bobby was like their father but quickly saved face and took the offered beer Sydney had.

“So I see a lot of artwork around. Is that your guys’ major?” Sam asked trying to change the subject.

“Hobby. I’m majoring in English and writing.” Sydney smiled taking a seat in the living room on one of the loveseats.

“Foreign language and literature for me.” Alyssa said taking a drink from her cider and sitting down next to her sister.

The boys sat on the couch catty-corner from the girls. Dean’s eyebrows rose at hearing Alyssa’s major,

“Foreign language; really? So do you know them all or…?”

Alyssa smiled like she got that question often,

“Not all of them, no. I’m no Bobby. My focus is in German and my minor is Japanese. I took two years of Spanish and French, and a year of Chinese in high school. I was also thinking about possibly taking Korean since they’ve got it here.”

“Wow.” Was all Dean could mutter.

“Japanese – like Bobby too right?” Sam asked.

“Yeah. He helped me a lot in the beginning.” Alyssa smiled fondly in remembrance.

“How about you guys? You get any school in?” Sydney asked, curious.

“Actually, I was in law school before but dropped it and got back into the life again, y’know?” Sam explained.

Sydney and Alyssa nodded in understanding.

“How about you, Dean?” Alyssa asked.

“Me? School? Nah. Not my style.”

Sydney chuckled,

“I’m the same way, really. School’s definitely not my thing, never has been, but Ally and Bobby convinced me to do it. They helped me find something I’m good at and interested in.”

Sydney smiled at her younger sister and Alyssa returned the smile back. Sam looked at Dean again, a bit despondent, at the mention of Bobby being fatherly. Alyssa snapped her head in the direction of the two,

“Alright, there’s that look again. What aren’t you guys telling us? Why are you really here? Why did Bobby send you?”

She leaned forward as if she were cross-examining them. Sam and Dean looked at each other again before Sam began softly,

“You see, the thing is… Bobby… Bobby he –”

“Bobby’s passed.” Dean finished somberly.

“What?” Sydney managed to croak out looking completely shell-shocked.

Alyssa stared blankly and set her drink down on the coffee table in front of her quietly.

“He wanted us to tell you that he loved you and was proud of you. He said to split his belongings between the four of us.” Sam said sympathetically.

“What happened?” Sydney asked looking grave, tears in her voice.

Alyssa continued to stare vacantly at nothing in particular.

“He was shot… in the head…” Dean said as gently as he could.

The four sat there in mute silence. Alyssa’s eyes widened slightly and grew shiny. She stood abruptly. In a doleful whisper,

“I’m going to take a shower.”

She disappeared into a hallway that led deeper into the house. Sydney woefully watched her sister leave, tears welling up in her own eyes.

“I’m sorry. Bobby meant a lot to us too.” Sam said apologetically.

“I’m sorry as well. You guys lost him too after all. And don’t… don’t mind Lyssa. She’s... she’s not so good with letting others see her get emotional.” Sydney said wiping at her eyes.

“Nah, it’s alright. I don’t blame her for that one. Not my strong suit either.” Dean said with empathy.

“So uh… since you guys need a place to stay, I guess I should give you the tour?” Sydney said standing up.

“We wouldn’t want to impose.” Sam said meekly.

“Not at all. C’mon, bedrooms are this way.” Sydney said leading the way to the hall Alyssa had just disappeared into only moments ago.

They passed a bathroom in the hallway that Sydney pointed out being hers. Said hallway connected to another hallway with three doors. She pointed to one of the doors,

“That’s the guest room.”

She pointed to the next room in the middle,

“That’s Ally’s.”

Then to the last room on the opposite side of the hall from the first,

“And that’s mine. Feel free to take a peek if you’d like. Also, the other bathroom is in Lyssa’s room. Master bedroom and bath, the little turd. But if you get a chance to see it, you’ll know why. Well… I’ll be in here if you need me.” Sydney said heading to her room.

All while they stood in the hallway, they pretended to not hear the faint sobbing coming from Alyssa’s room.

Sam and Dean thanked Sydney and went to get some things from their car before heading back in to the guest room. It was a decent sized room with a king sized bed and artfully decorated.

“Well, that went just about how I pictured. More or less.” Dean said to Sam while going through his things.

“Yeah, no kidding. Poor girls. Made me realize how lucky we were to have been there with him in his last moments. Who knows how long it’s been since they last saw him.” Sam pondered.

A soft knock came to their door before it opened revealing it to be Alyssa. Her hair was down and damp. She wore a large t-shirt and shorts for pajamas. And she was once again apathetic.

“Just wanted to let you guys know that either of you are free to use my bed. Bathroom is free too. If you want to shower just let Sydney know so she can go first. Towels are in the linen closets in both bathrooms. Well… good night.”

She turned to leave when Sam stopped her,

“You don’t have to give up your bed for us. This bed is plenty big enough for the both of us.”

“Whether one of you uses it or not, I won’t be. I’ll be fine on the couch. And if I really need to I’ll just go sleep with Sydney, although I don’t think I’ll be getting much sleep tonight anyway. Again, good night.”

And with that she left, closing the door behind her. Sam looked at Dean who raised his brows and shrugged,

“Well, since she offered… I’ll take it if you don’t. Not too keen on sharing a bed with your giant-bodied self – even **if** it’s a king.”

Sam gave Dean a disapproving look but Dean just shrugged it off again while he gathered his things. When he went to open the door, he jumped when he saw a small pile of blankets walking out of Alyssa’s room to the living room to go flop on the couch. He raised his brow but continued on his way to Alyssa’s room. Like the rest of the house it was eclectic in its decorations but neat and tidy. Posters of all kinds filled up practically every inch of wall in the room. He noticed there were a lot of comic book characters on the posters and recognized that other posters had anime characters. What really caught his eye were the vintage, thick, cardboard-like concert posters of older bands ranging from The Beatles, Queen, Styx, ACDC, Boston, Kansas, Led Zeppelin, Lynard Skynard, Van Halen, Metallica, and everything in between.

“Nice taste.” Dean commented looking around approvingly.

Like the guest room, she had a king-sized bed of her own and a closet. There were two dressers covered in collectibles, figurines, and the like; the running theme being cows or Japanese/Asian items. Bookshelves filled to the brim were littered all over the room. There were two Japanese scrolls with Japanese writing on them and some Japanese panels squeezed in with all the posters. Drawings and framed pictures adorned one small spot of a wall mixed in with the posters too. A lot of the pictures he noticed were of her and her sister but there were quite a few that had Bobby in them.

“They looked so happy…” Dean murmured examining the pictures.

He then moved on to the open door of the bathroom. Dean’s jaw dropped when he turned the light on. Before him on the counters were products of all kinds. There, of course, was a toilet – in its own little place, able to be shut away from the rest of the room – a large tub, and a glass shower. But it was all he could help but notice all the different beauty products and other toiletries that he had no idea what a majority of them did.

“It’s like a damn spa in here, holy crap.”

He opened a door revealing the linen closet filled with plush towels, blankets, sheets, pillows, and so on. He grabbed one of the towels,

“Definitely taking advantage of this stuff.”

Dean walked back out to the hallway going to knock on Sydney’s door. She called from within,

“Yeah? Come in.”

He opened the door and saw she was sitting on her bed. It looked like she had been crying so he pretended like he didn’t notice. Her room was similarly eclectic to her sisters. Posters everywhere, drawings and framed pictures, a king-sized bed, dressers covered in stuff, full bookshelves everywhere. The difference was that she had shelves of a particular kind of figurine all over that she looked to be collecting and instead of cows, she seemed to favor wolves.

“Hey, just wanted to let you know that your sister said to tell you if we wanted to use the shower so you could go first.”

“Ah, okay. Thank you. I’ll go take a shower real quick and then it’s all clear for you guys.”

“Awesome, thanks. Good night.” Dean smiled and left closing the door behind him.

He then went across the hall to the guest room, not bothering to knock on the door.

“Dude, you **have** to see that bathroom. It’s like she bought out a salon or something.”

Sam raised his brow,

“Thanks for knocking? And I’ll just take your word for it.”

“Lame. Alright well I’ll let you know when I’m done taking a shower.” Dean said before slipping out again.

“Why do I have to go last?” Sam complained at the closed door.

Dean chuckled as he turned to go back to Alyssa’s bedroom. He glanced to the living room seeing that it looked like Alyssa was watching TV now still huddled under the blankets. He thought about maybe going out there but decided against it in the end.

Once Sydney was done showering she let Dean know who quickly jumped at the chance of using the “awesome” bathroom. He luxuriated about the bathroom, looking and investigating the various products, and then moved on to enjoying the “fancy” shower. When he finally finished he let his brother know he could at last shower and then he went to bed. Alyssa’s bed was as comfy as it looked which Dean delighted in and was quickly able to drift to sleep. He noted that the bed smelled sweet and flowery right before he fell into oblivion.

 

 

 

Sam and Dean awoke in their respective rooms to the smell of bacon and other cooking food. They followed the smell to the kitchen where they saw Alyssa rummaging and moving around busily. At first she didn’t notice they had entered but when she finally did she greeted,

“Morning. Why don’t y’all go ahead and take a seat over at the dining table?”

They returned her “morning” with one of their own and obliged her. She called from the kitchen,

“Can I get you guys anything to drink? Coffee, tea, milk, water, juice?”

“Coffee’s fine, thanks.” Sam said.

“Me too.” Dean said.

She brought over a pot of coffee, two mugs, some creamer, and some sugar and set it in front of them.

“Didja guys sleep well?” She asked.

“Yeah, I slept great. Haven’t slept that good in a long time.” Dean smiled.

“Yeah, it was great, thank you.” Sam said.

They noticed her eyes were bloodshot, red-rimmed, and slightly puffy.

“Wonderful! I know those motels and other joints don’t have the greatest beds or atmosphere so I’m glad you guys enjoyed yourselves.” She said heading back to the kitchen.

“Oh man, don’t you know it.” Dean chuckled.

“I **do** know it! It’s like, hunting isn’t already hard enough without those awful places we have to hole up in for who knows how long. It’s awful isn’t it?”

“So you and Sydney are hunters too? Were hunters?” Sam asked.

“ **Are** hunters. We still hunt occasionally. Always on the lookout for local stuff. Just haven’t gone traveling like we would before.”

“Gotcha.”

Sydney came into the kitchen and looked about, taking in all the food that was in the process of being made.

“Morning everyone… I see we’re getting a hell of a breakfast.”

“Most important meal of the day, after all.” Alyssa smiled.

“I see that.” Sydney said before she went to pour herself a glass of juice and then headed to the dining room to sit with the boys.

They noticed that she too had bloodshot puffy eyes.

“So what all are we having, Ally?” She asked once seated.

“Sausage – link and patty, bacon, toast, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, eggs – scrambled and fried, muffins, grits, hash browns, and fresh fruit. All homemade.” Alyssa listed, nonchalant.

Sam, Dean, and Sydney all raised their brows and looked at one another.

“I see you’ve been, uh, busy this morning.” Dean commented.

“A little.” Alyssa said as she began to bring all the food to the table.

“I don’t think there will be enough room on the table…” Sydney said eyeballing all the dishes.

“We’ll make it work.” Alyssa replied.

When she was finished, everyone ate peacefully. Dean ate with much gusto.

“It’s been so long since I’ve had a home-cooked meal. Actually… I think it’s the first time I’ve ever had a home-cooked meal. But this food is awesome. Thanks, Alyssa.” Dean gleefully complimented through bites.

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it. And you can call me Ally if you like. Or Lyssa. Anything really. I’ve got a ton of nicknames.” She said flustered.

“It’s delicious, really. Thanks, Ally.” Sam smiled.

“No problem.” She said growing redder by the second.

“Isn’t her cooking great? She’s like my own little personal chef. I mean, I cook too but I never really feel like it.” Sydney laughed patting her sister’s head.

“Alright, alright, alright.” Alyssa said brushing her sister’s hand away, still embarrassed.

“Oh yeah, Sydney, I saw what you meant about the bathroom thing.” Dean chuckled a bit.

“Bathroom thing?” Alyssa looked to Sydney confused.

“I may have explained why you got the master bedroom because of your bathroom.” Sydney fluttered her eyelashes innocently.

“Yeah, it’s like you’re trying to open up a store or something in there, there’s so much stuff!” Dean said in amazement.

Alyssa narrowed her eyes at her sister,

“I’ll have you know that I need all of that stuff and it all serves a purpose. I **am** a professional after all.”

“Oh here we go again…” Sydney said, rolling her eyes.

“Professional?” Sam asked.

“We had a free summer once so I went to beauty school while she went to art school. I’ve got a license and everything.” Alyssa explained.

“You had a ton of that crap before you even became a ‘professional’.” Sydney complained, adding air quotes.

“I don’t see you complaining whenever I’m pampering you or doing your hair.” Alyssa crossed her arms.

“Yeah… well… shut up.” Sydney said sticking her tongue out.

“You can do hair? Like haircuts and stuff?” Dean asked as Alyssa stuck her tongue out at her sister triumphantly.

“Mhmm. Do mine and Sydney’s hair all the time. If you guys want, I can do your hair too.” Alyssa smiled.

“Hear that, Sam? Free haircut.” Dean smiled deviously at his brother.

“Dude, for the last time I’m not getting a haircut.” Sam exasperated, glaring at Dean.

“You sure? It’d be no trouble at all, really. I’d love to get my hands on that hair.” Alyssa offered with a mischievous grin.

Sam’s hands shot up to his hair with eyes wide. Everyone else around the table laughed.

“I’m only joking, besides, you’ll have plenty of time to decide on one or not.”

“Plenty of time?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, because we’re gonna go with you to take out whatever it was that got Bobby.” Alyssa smiled.

“Say what now?” Dean asked blinking while Sydney raised her brows at her sister as this was news to her too.

“If you had taken care of whatever got Bobby you would have told us when you were telling us he died. Now what did it?” Alyssa said growing serious and interrogative like she had last night.

“Are you serious? You can’t just uproot your life here, can you? I mean, you’re in school and you’ve got your jobs and this house.” Dean said in disbelief.

Alyssa stood and began to pace,

“But that’s where you’re wrong. See, we’re working on our masters right now and we’re almost finished. We can just do the rest of our classes online. And do you really think it’ll be hard leaving a bartending job? Great thing about our majors is that there are at-home jobs we can get with them. Writing books and translating things doesn’t have to be an office job after all. We’ve always been prepared to easily get back into the life. Besides, we have to go look and help you with Bobby’s things, right? Now tell us what the hell killed Bobby.” She stopped pacing right in front of Sam and Dean and leaned in as she asked once again what killed Bobby.

Sam and Dean gave in and explained the whole situation they had gotten into with creatures called Leviathans. Leviathans were nearly invincible monsters – with the exception of being able to be burned by borax and most cleaning detergents – which bled black goo, had giant parasitic mouths that they used to eat people with, and could transform into anyone with all their memories just by touching you once or having some of your DNA. Their leader, Dick Roman, was the one who had shot and killed Bobby.

“Where the hell did these things come from? I’ve never heard of them before.” Sydney asked.

“They actually just got here recently although they’re very old. They’re from Purgatory.” Sam explained.

“Purgatory? You mean like, Hell?” Alyssa asked.

“More like Hell for monsters. There’s Hell and then there’s Purgatory.” Dean clarified.

“So how the hell did they get here? Never heard of any monster souls breaking out of monster Hell before.” Sydney mused.

“Well they didn’t exactly break out on their own per say. They had a little help.” Sam said with chagrin.

“A little help how? Why would anyone let those things free much less how?” Alyssa’s eyebrows were knit together.

“You remember all those miracles happening a little while ago? Well that was our friend, Castiel. He managed to take all the souls in purgatory into himself and used the power to do so. The only thing is, is that all that power started to burn him out. So, he put all the souls back into purgatory. Or so we thought. Turns out the leviathans held on while everything else got sent back. They ended up taking over Cas’ body but it was too much and ended up tearing him apart. And that’s how they got free.” Sam described.

“How the hell could anyone hold all that power to begin with though?”

“Cas was an angel.” Dean said, face still grim as it had been when Sam first brought up Castiel.

“An angel?! Angels are real?” Sydney said in surprise.

“Oh, right. Not everyone knows about that. Forgot. Yeah, angels are real. And no they’re not all nice fluffy cherubs. Most of them are dick bags.” Dean said frowning.

“Well I guess that’s not so farfetched since demons exist. So what do angels look like, exactly?” Alyssa asked, truly intrigued.

“We’re not really sure. They have to take a vessel just like demons except they have to have your permission first.” Sam said.

“Oh great, more parasites. Looks like I’ll have to do some more research…” Alyssa said trailing off.

“Research on what?” Dean asked.

“Something that’ll keep angels out like the demon possession ward.” She mumbled as she went to one of the bookshelves in the living room and began scanning the shelves.

“They have to ask permission, remember?” Sam said like he was captain obvious.

“Doesn’t mean they can’t trick you into saying yes. Parasites will do just about anything to get a host. You said most of them were not good, **remember**? I like having my free will, thanks.” Alyssa retorted as she flipped through a book before putting it back and reached for another.

“Although I’m not looking forward to another tattoo.” She sighed.

“She hates needles. Afraid of them, actually.” Sydney explained.

Alyssa shot her sister an “eat shit” look before going back to her search.

“Our demon possession wards aren’t even that big. It wasn’t that bad at all.” Sydney said moving her hair to the side and folded her ear down so the boys could see the small hidden tattoo.

“Why would you guys get them there?” Dean asked.

“So they’re not easily found, obviously. Don’t want some demon being able to find it right away, do something to it, and possess us right off the bat. I figure we’d just pull it off as something else not being able to be possessed. And if they somehow did manage to find it then it wouldn’t hurt as much if they were to remove it since it’s so small.” Alyssa explained.

“That’s actually really smart.” Sam said with approval.

“Well, I’ll find something eventually. I guess we should go take care of everything else first so we can leave.” Alyssa said putting the book she had back on the shelf.

“Shouldn’t take too long. You guys sit tight. We’ll be ready to leave soon.”

 

 

 

True to their word it didn’t take them long. They made phone calls and were on their laptops taking care of business while Sam and Dean helped out by putting dishes and leftover food away. Then the girls got dressed and were packing their things. Alyssa disappeared for a little bit but popped back up right as they were about to leave.

“Where’d you just go?” Sydney asked her sister.

“I went and let the Johnson’s know that they were free to all the food in our fridge and freezers and to just throw out the stuff they didn’t want. I told them to call us when they got everything so I can have the power cut off. Don’t want a big bill when we won’t even be here to use the house, y’know?”

“You’re so smart! Isn’t my baby sister so smart awwww.” Sydney cooed while embracing Alyssa into a hug, patting her head lovingly.

“You’re just gonna leave your house unlocked for these people?” Dean asked incredulously.

“No, they’ve got a key. And they’re not just people, they’re the old couple next door. They’re really nice and sweet. They’ll keep a look out for our house while we’re gone too. We can trust them, no sweat.” Alyssa explained while she extracted herself from her sister’s clutches and went to grab her bags.

Dean still looked a bit skeptical but kept his mouth shut and followed the girls out of the garage.

“Besides, we’ve got this place booby trapped out the ass.” Alyssa said pointing to a white a black line that lined the floor of the garage door.

“What’s that? Totally didn’t notice that last night.” Sam asked curiously.

“Unbreakable salt and gopher dust line. Ally came up with it herself. Whole house is lined with it!” Sydney smiled proudly.

“Unbreakable? How?” Dean asked as he and Sam went to inspect the line closer.

“Mixed salt and gopher dust with some polymers and rubber cement. Can’t be wiped, scrubbed, rubbed, or blown away. Tested it too and it’s foolproof. I sealed the garage floor so it’s practically unnoticeable until pointed out.” Alyssa smiled, a little bashful at being the center of attention again.

“See? Smart! And I bet you guys didn’t see any of the booby traps in the house either! Like seriously there are like wards everywhere and you can’t even tell. Lyssa was obsessed with putting them up too.” Sydney laughed jubilantly.

“Seriously? I didn’t see anything.” Sam said, impressed.

“Me neither.” Dean concurred.

“I’m just that good. But at least most supernatural baddies won’t be able to get in while we’re gone.” Alyssa chuckled lightly as she popped her trunk open.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?” Dean stopped Alyssa midway through putting her stuff in her trunk.

“Putting my stuff in my trunk? What else?” Alyssa said raising an eyebrow at him.

“We can’t take two cars. It’ll draw attention.”

“Okay, then we’ll take my car.” Alyssa said, putting her hands on her hips stubbornly.

“No way. We can’t use the same car over and over. We have to rotate cars frequently so unless you wanna ditch your car soon then it’s a no go.” Dean said crossing his arms.

“Why? I don’t wanna take your dumpster dive car. Plus, what about my arsenal?” Alyssa said pouting.

“We’re being chased by the leviathans, remember? Oh and we’re basically wanted criminals **also** because of the leviathans. Do you really think I’d be driving this crap when I’ve got my Impala at home? We’ve already got an arsenal that we can share.”

“ **Fine** , but I’m checking to see what you’ve got just to make sure you’re not missing anything. And don’t complain about no trunk space either.” Alyssa huffed, grabbing her things from her trunk.

After checking out the boys’ arsenal and grabbing what they didn’t have – or thought they had a better one of – the girls put their stuff in the dodge’s trunk and were ready to go. Alyssa went up to the driver’s side door and another spat broke out.

“No way, sugar pop. **I’m** driving.” Dean said putting his hand on the door’s handle before she could grab it.

“What?! We have to take the lousy car **and** I don’t get to drive? This is bull crap!” Alyssa said stamping her foot.

“Sorry princess, can’t always get what you want.” Dean smirked down at the blonde.

She scowled at him hard, giving him the biggest death glare before stomping over to the passenger’s side door where Sam was about to open the door.

“If I can’t drive, then I get shot gun. Sorry, big guy, but I get car sick real bad. So unless you want me complaining of nausea and then vomiting the whole way, back seat for you it is. Blame your butt head brother.” Alyssa growled at Sam.

Sam backed up a step, a little intimidated by the short girl. He shot his brother a frown over the hood of the car that read as,

“Why’d you have to go and piss her off already?”

Who in return gave a look with his eyebrows drawn together and his palms raised that read as,

“Like I knew she got car sick.”

“Good thing is, I don’t need a lot of leg room so you shouldn’t be too uncomfortable.” Alyssa said with an attempted friendly smile, trying to calm down, almost apologetic for taking out her anger on Sam.

Sam bobbed his head to the side giving a contemplative look before getting into the back with Sydney who had all the while been giggling to herself. Alyssa got into the passenger’s seat, adjusting it, leaving Sam plenty of room while still having enough room to be comfortable herself. She turned and made a face sticking her tongue out at Dean when he got in the car who just rolled his eyes and ignored her. Suddenly Sydney’s hand shot through the middle with her IPod in hand,

“Plug in, please.” She chirped.

Dean and Alyssa both turned around to look at her with an “are you serious?” look.

“What? I’ve got some great songs on here!”

“Sydney, this car was made in the 70’s. There is no auxiliary port nor USB port. And considering it’s stolen I highly doubt they made any upgrades to make it so. The only thing we’ll probably be able to listen to in here is either radio or cassette tapes.” Alyssa said.

“Yeah, whatever she said. Besides, driver gets to pick the tunes and the rest shut their cakehole.” Dean smirked, turning around.

“But what about my phone?! How will I charge it?” Sydney exclaimed.

“You can’t. Better conserve your energy.” Alyssa said while she turned, giving Dean a dirty look for his dictator comment.

“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” Sydney cried out.

Alyssa rolled her eyes,

“Oh hush, you drama queen.”

Dean started up the car while Sam hovered over Sydney concerned as she clutched her phone and IPod to her chest with a look of despair. Alyssa started digging around up front much to Dean’s annoyance,

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for cassettes. Usually never anything good on the radio and you said you had an impala, right? So you’ve gotta have at least **some** cassettes.” She said looking up at him.

“Yeah, in my baby. I didn’t bring them with me.” Dean said.

“Ugh, great.” Alyssa groaned and began to fiddle with the radio.

“Hey, hey! I said driver gets to pick the tunes, remember?” Dean barked at her.

She turned to him stubbornly,

“How about final say? Like a veto? If I find something you can say whether it stays or goes.”

He stared at her, eyes narrowed, for a good second before nodding,

“Fine.”

She flipped through the stations until she came across the beginning of a Black Sabbath song.

“Ooo! War Pigs, nice!” She bounced happily.

Sam and Dean both looked at her in surprise.

“You listen to Black Sabbath?” Sam asked, astonished.

“Yeah? Problem?” She said raising a brow.

“No, just didn’t think you’d listen to that kind of thing is all.” Sam said sitting back in his seat.

“She listens to all kinds of old stuff all the time. I know some but that’s more her shtick than mine. I like music from this century.” Sydney said, back from her brink of despair over her phone and IPod.

“Hey, I listen to modern stuff too. I like all kinds of music; old, new, classical, rock, pop, etc. Although I never really cared for rap. I just particularly like the classics. You can’t go wrong with the classics.” Alyssa said.

“Well, sounds good to me. I love the classics.” Dean smiled.

Sam rolled his eyes,

“Don’t I know it all too well.”

“What’s that, Sam?”

“Nothing.” Sam said quickly.

Just then the intro finally ended and Ozzy Osbourne’s voice came on. As it did Alyssa started singing along perfectly word for word.

“Maybe she does really know the classics after all. Guess those posters in her room were legit.” Dean said.

“I ain’t some ignorant hipster wannabe. I know my stuff!” Alyssa stopped mid-singing to say before continuing after she clarified.

Sam and Dean chuckled while Sydney dug into her bag for headphones to drown everyone out with her own music. The station Alyssa had found was a pretty good one that played mostly decent songs. She knew and sang along with just about every song that played and eventually Sam and Dean found themselves singing right along with her. It didn’t take long, however, until both Alyssa and Sydney fell asleep – knocked out cold.

“Nice to see they’re back to their spunky and cheerful selves so quickly. Heck, this one here is even kinda cute when she’s sleeping and not getting into an argument.” Dean chuckled, nodding his head towards Alyssa who was sleeping peacefully, head rested against the window.

“Yeah, well they’re definitely better actors than we are. Able to pretend they’re okay when they’re not. I bet neither of them got any sleep last night.” Sam said looking the two over.

“You’re probably right about that one.” Dean said in agreement while bringing his focus back to the road.

Hours later into the trip a soft sniffling sound started. Sam and Dean looked around confused until they saw tears running down Alyssa’s still sleeping face.

“Is she crying in her sleep?” Sam asked in a whisper.

“Looks like. She might pretend to be okay very well but it looks like she can’t fool herself even in her dreams.” Dean murmured, casting a glance her way.

The crying went on for a little while longer until she woke with a gentle gasp. She sat up, blinking, and jerkily wiped at her face.

“How long was I out?” She asked quietly.

“Not too long. Only a couple hours.” Dean said, eyes on the road ahead.

She nodded to herself and turned to stare out the window silently until she fell asleep again. This time she stayed asleep with no interruptions just like Sydney until they arrived in Whitefish, Montana where the boys’ new base camp was: Rufus’ cabin. The girls woke when the engine cut off. Sitting up and stretching sleepily, they proceeded to look around groggily.

“Where are we?” Sydney yawned.

“Is that Rufus’ cabin?” Alyssa asked.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Forgot again. Bobby’s place was burnt down so we’ve been staying here instead.” Dean explained.

“Seriously?” Sydney groaned while Alyssa just stared wordlessly, practically unfazed by the never ending bad news.

They all got out of the car and began to unpack it, bringing their things inside.

“So where’s Rufus? He working a job right now?” Alyssa asked climbing the steps, looking around.

“Uh no… he died a little bit ago too.” Sam said almost apologetically.

She and Sydney just sighed, downtrodden, and brought their things inside. They looked around, seeing the boxes.

“Well looks like not everything was burned. Good thing he always made copies.” Sydney said.

“Yeah, thankfully he was paranoid.” Dean said setting his stuff down.

“Knowing Bobby though, none of this stuff is any kind of organized.” Alyssa said opening one of the boxes and thumbing through.

“You would be most definitely correct.” Sam said.

“Guess we should get to work then. We’re gonna be in for the long haul.” Alyssa said getting herself comfortable.


	2. Adventures in Babysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follows along with season 7 episode 11 - Adventures in Babysitting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BC glasses = "birth control glasses" - military slang

A week or two had passed since Alyssa and Sydney first came up to the cabin. The group slowly but surely went through Bobby’s things trying to organize as they did, but it was an arduous process. The girls also had classes to do while they worked, making progression that much slower. Dean became increasingly agitated as time went by. When questioned by the girls about it he would only say,

“It’s a lead on Dick Roman that Bobby used his last breath to tell us about.”

Currently, Sydney and Alyssa were going through Bobby’s books while Sam fidgeted with Bobby’s address book and Dean stared at his wall he made of leads and news regarding the leviathans and Dick Roman. Sam got up, grabbing a beer from the fridge, and looked around apprehensively at the rest of the group,

“Guys, you know, um… I wonder if- if we – I mean, should we be telling people? I mean, people he knew.”

“What’s that?” Alyssa asked not looking up from what she was doing.

Before Sam could answer her, Dean turned from his wall facing the rest of the group,

“How long ago did I give Frank these numbers? It’s been a few weeks, right?”

“Who the hell is Frank?” Sydney asked in confusion while Sam nodded in answer to Dean’s question.

“What, is he nuts, or is he just being rude?”

“Probably both.” Sam replied.

“Like the two of you? Because I’m pretty sure we just asked you both a fucking question each.” Alyssa said testily, setting the book she had down, crossing her arms over her chest and her leg over the other.

“Sorry. Frank is a guy Bobby knew. He’s good with computers, hacking, and staying under the radar. He’s kinda crazy but he helped us get new identities and whatnot when the leviathans kept trying to screw us over on a national level. We asked him to look into the lead Bobby gave us when we couldn’t figure out what it was.” Sam said taking a seat at the kitchen table.

“The numbers Dean’s been scribbling over and over?” Sydney asked.

“Yep, that’s the one.” Sam said.

“Okay, and the other thing you were asking about?” Alyssa asked Sam.

Before Sam could answer, Dean interrupted him once again as if he had just ignored everything everyone else had been saying like he was in his own world,

“Unless, of course, something happened to him. He can’t get to the phone because a leviathan ate his face!”

“Uh, yeah, also a possibility.” Sam said obliging Dean.

“If he interrupts the answer to my question one more time, I swear to God!” Alyssa said standing up, starting towards Dean until she was stopped by Sydney.

“We should go check on him.” Dean said ignoring the girls again.

“Guys, do you want to call Bobby’s people or not?” Sam finally managed to ask, ignoring Dean this time.

“Why is that our job?” Dean asked.

“Because who else is gonna do it?” Sam replied.

“Wait, hold up. Y’all haven’t told anyone else yet? Well thank God you actually took the effort and told us. Christ, guys.” Alyssa said in annoyance.

“I’m not calling anybody. If you guys want to, you go right ahead. Only reason we told you guys was because Bobby asked us to. He didn’t say anything about anyone else.” Dean said turning back to his wall of info.

“Well I don’t want to call anyone. You kidding me? It was already hard enough telling those two.” Sam said pointing to Alyssa and Sydney.

“Okay, children, enough.” Sydney sighed.

“You guys should’ve taken care of this already long before we even got here. Good God, you big babies.” Alyssa sat back down on the cluttered couch, squeezing the bridge of her nose.

Suddenly a cell phone rang. Everyone looked around at everyone else.

“It’s not mine or Lyssa’s. We have special custom ringtones instead of lame generic ones like that.” Sydney said.

“Well, I’m not getting it.” Dean said stubbornly.

Sam sighed and dug through some bags until he found the ringing cell phone in with more of Bobby’s stuff.

“Hello?” Sam answered the phone.

“ _Is Bobby Singer there?_ ” A young girl’s voice asked.

“Uh, no. He’s, uh… I-i-it’s not, but I’m a friend of his.” Sam said while Dean walked over, spying an old flask covered in leather that got pulled to the surface of the bag Sam had found the phone in.

Dean pulled the flask out examining it while the girls watched on in curiosity.

“ _My dad asked me to call Bobby Singer specifically._ ”

“Alright well, he’s… not here, but, look, if you need s–” Was all Sam was able to get out before the girl hung up on him.

Sam looked confused while closing the phone.

“Who was it?” Alyssa asked from the couch.

“Just some kid.” Sam said.

“For Bobby?” Sydney asked.

“Girl scout cookies?” Dean asked grabbing a beer from the fridge.

“I think maybe… maybe a hunter’s kid? I mean she sounded pretty scared.” Sam said then flipped the phone open again looking through it.

“You know, I have a caller ID maybe we should go find her. We can check on her.”

“What about Frank?” Dean asked.

“Well, Dean, I think we should go find this girl first.” Sydney went to stand next to Sam.

“Guys, Frank’s been working on the numbers that Bobby spent his last **breath** on, and you wanna back-burner that?” Dean looked at them like they were crazy.

Sydney and Sam looked at Dean silently while Alyssa walked over to Dean, chewing on her lip,

“You know, I think Dean may have a point with this one, guys.”

Sam and Sydney still wouldn’t budge, however. Dean scoffed,

“Fine. You two go check out Girl Scout. Ally and I’ll find Frank.”

“Fine. But you know what? On one condition – if Frank is just spinning his wheels, then you two bail out on crazy and come meet us.” Sam said.

Alyssa and Dean nodded in understanding. Dean then went to take a drink of his beer only to discover it was empty.

“Thanks for drinking my entire beer, guys.” Dean complained holding up the bottle for them all to see.

“I didn’t touch your beer. Mine’s right there.” Sam said pointing to his beer on the kitchen table.

“Sydney and I don’t even drink beer, remember? So it wasn’t us either. You probably just drank it without noticing.” Alyssa said.

Dean looked at the bottle and looked around confused before mumbling,

“Right…”

 

The two pairs split up. Sam and Sydney went and found the address of the caller ID in Bobby’s address book. It led them to an apartment complex nearby. They headed inside and found the room according to the address and knocked on the door. After, they saw someone looking out the peephole, but not open the door.

“Hello? Um, we… spoke on the phone earlier?” Sam said to the closed door.

The door opened, revealing a young girl about the age of 13 or 14. She had long dark curly brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and brown eyes. She opened the door to the max length the chain would allow to look out at both Sam and Sydney.

“Hi. Uh… I’m Sam and this is Sydney. You sounded like you needed help and we were in the area.”

“How’d you find me?”

“Your dad is in Bobby’s address book.” Sydney answered.

“So where is he?” The girl asked skeptically.

“Bobby? He uh… he’s passed away.” Sam said,

“Look um…”

“Krissy.” The girl answered.

“Krissy. I get it. You don’t let strangers in. But if your dad said you could trust Bobby, then you can trust us too.” Sam beseeched.

The girl, Krissy, closed the door and removed the chain. Then she opened the door and held a phone up,

“Just so you know, 911’s on speed dial. One button.”

“Yeah, sure. Note taken.” Sydney said.

Krissy moved aside and let the two in,

“So… you both salesmen too?”

“Yep.” Sam said as he and Sydney moved further into the room.

“So your dad’s on the road right now? Been gone awhile?” Sam asked when he and Sydney got to the middle of the room.

“He usually calls every night.” Krissy said walking up to them after she locked the front door again.

“How long has it been?” Sydney asked.

“Five days.”

Sam and Sydney looked at one another before turning back to Krissy.

“So it’s just you and him, huh?” Sam asked.

Krissy nodded. Sam chuckled,

“I know how that is.”

“Look, um… sometimes on the road, crap happens. So we’ll help you track him down.” Sydney said.

“Really?” Krissy asked, hopeful.

“’Course. Did he happen to say where he was going?” Sam asked.

“He said he had a couple leads near Dodge City.”

“And does he have a desk or something where he keeps his stuff?” Sydney asked looking around.

Krissy nodded and led them to a bedroom.

“Would you mind making some coffee?” Sam asked once in the room.

Krissy smiled nodding and left to go do so.

“Thanks.” Sam said as she left.

“Nice puppy dog eyes trick earlier. That work on everyone?” Sydney asked Sam once she knew Krissy was out of earshot as they began to search the room for clues.

“Puppy dog eyes? I don’t know what you mean.” Sam said with a confused expression while he dug through the room’s desk.

Sydney snorted in response,

“Sure you don’t.”

She went and opened the closet door and moved the clothes inside aside and exclaimed,

“Bingo!”

On the wall was all kinds of info and a map, detailing where some disappearances were happening, similar to the wall Dean had made at the cabin. The two looked over everything before going back out into the living room and to the kitchen where Krissy was.

“Krissy. Hey, listen, so we think we got an idea where to start. So we’re gonna go ahead and go. Um… can we borrow this?” Sam said holding up a framed picture of Krissy and her dad.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks. Here. Here’s a number, in case you don’t hear from us in the next couple days. Don’t worry. I promise we’ll check in.” Sam said handing a piece of paper with a phone number on it to the girl.

“Don’t say that. That’s what my dad said.” Krissy said.

Sam and Sydney looked at each other before looking back to Krissy, nodded, and left.

 

With Alyssa and Dean, they were just pulling up to a house in the middle of nowhere. The duo got out of a maroon Buick Special Deluxe and went up to the front door. When no one answered the two just shrugged and let themselves in. They looked around, guns out, seeing that the house was practically empty now. They rounded a corner to a room that before had been filled with all kinds of computers and hacking stuff and was now empty.

“This can’t be good.” Dean said.

Behind them, the sound of a shotgun being cocked was heard. They both quickly turned with their guns up, aiming for whoever held the shotgun. It was an older scruffy-looking guy with BC glasses, a wind breaker, collared shirt and tan slacks.

“Well… hi.” Alyssa said to ease the tension.

The man still held his gun steadily, as did Dean and Alyssa.

“Frank… we’re amongst friends here.” Dean said.

Frank gave Dean a look.

“Okay, acquaintances.” Dean corrected himself.

“That’s just what a leviathan would say.” Frank narrowed his eyes at the two.

“Frank… we’re not leviathans!” Dean shouted.

“Oh, sure. You’re not leviathans. Dick Roman’s not a leviathan. Gwyneth Paltrow is not a leviathan.” Frank mocked.

“Gwyneth Paltrow?” Alyssa raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah?” Dean asked.

“Trust me.” Frank said.

“Okay. You know what, Frank? I think you’ve been doing a little **too much** research.” Dean said.

“They’re anywhere, anyone. Who’s to say this ain’t the day they come for old Frank who knew too much? I don’t even know who that one is.” Frank pointed his gun at Alyssa.

“Wait! They bleed black goo, right? You want to see what we bleed?” Alyssa exclaimed, not liking being on the main receiving end of the shotgun’s barrel.

Frank gave a contemplative look before pointing his gun towards Dean’s feet.

“Oh! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let’s take the guns out of it, okay?” Dean yelled.

He sat his gun down on the desk behind him and slowly reached into his back pocket, pulling out a pocket knife. He pulled the sleeve of his light-weight jacket up and cut along his forearm, showing that he bled red. Dean handed the knife to Alyssa who had holstered her gun and was shrugging out of her black crop top leather jacket. She grimaced as she cut herself on the top of her forearm similar to Dean. She too bled red blood. Frank lowered his shotgun and sighed.

“See? Red-blooded American.” Dean said taking the knife from Alyssa and wiping it on his sleeve then held it out to Frank.

“Now… Your turn.”

“Oh! Whoa. Look, I’m obviously not–” Frank started.

“Fair’s fair, douchebag! You sat there and made a girl who’s barely 4 feet tall do it. You can do it too.” Dean said.

“Hey! I’m 4 foot 11 and 3/4s thank you. I’m barely **_5_** feet tall, you stupid jerk.” Alyssa complained.

Frank frowned but took the knife from Dean and proceeded to cut the top of his palm, sighing in pain as he did so. When his blood turned out to be red he handed Dean his knife back. Dean cleaned his knife and put it back in his pocket.

“Yeah, I’m glad we could share that.” Dean said to Frank sarcastically.

“Grab your gun and both of you come with me. For God’s sake, don’t make any noise.”

Frank had them drive out to a hidden RV. As they entered the RV Dean asked,

“Why the downsize?”

“You! ‘Hey, Frank, go dig up some dirt on Richard Roman.’ That night, I was burned off every IP I had. Ears on my phones, eyes on my house.” Frank said getting riled up.

“Wait– Dick’s got people watching you?” Alyssa asked.

“Do I look like I know? You think it’s easy to see this deep into what’s real and also be bipolar with delusional ideation? There is no pill for my situation, sweetie pop, so, yeah, best guess– the big mouths are onto me. I still don’t even know who you are.” Frank said.

“I knew Bobby too. He was like a second dad to my sister, Sydney and I. My name’s Alyssa Wieger. Nice to meet you.” Alyssa extended a small hand to the wiry man.

He grabbed her hand and shook once before letting go,

“Frank Devereaux. Word to the wise, princess. Probably shouldn’t keep company with that one. You’ll probably end up in danger, or dead, or both.”

“We’re gonna help take out that son of a bitch Dick Roman if it’s the last thing I do, so I’m here to stay.” Alyssa crossed her arms stubbornly.

“Your funeral, kid. Now, next question.”

“Alright. Well, what’s the word on the big mouths?” Dean asked.

Frank sighed,

“Their tentacles are everywhere. I-I’m looking at bankers, military high-ups–”

“This is why you didn’t call me back.” Dean said.

“Hey, cut me some slack. You called me like four days ago.”

“I called you four **weeks** ago, Frank.” Dean clarified.

“What? No. Really? Days, weeks– quit busting my chops.” Frank said making light of the lost time.

“What, are you kidding me?” Dean said getting worked up.

“You cool your heels, buster brown.” Frank pointed at Dean.

“Frank, I paid you 15 grand for this!” Dean said.

Alyssa’s eyes practically popped out of her head,

“15 grand!?”

“Yeah, I get that–” Frank started.

“No, you **don’t** get that! Dick Roman is every card in my hit deck. You understand that? Those numbers, they got something to do with him, okay? Bobby **died** for those numbers.” Dean got up into Frank’s face.

“Look, I’m sorry about Bobby. I really am.” Frank said, looking apologetic.

Frank chuckled,

“You know, this one time, we were in Fresno and we got stuck –”

“No. No, no, no. No, I’m not gonna play ‘this one time with Bobby’ crap, alright? I’m not gonna get all warm and fuzzy with somebody else who barely knew him.” Dean interrupted.

A small sniffle brought Frank and Dean’s attention to Alyssa whose face looked pained and her eyes were watery from bringing up memories of Bobby.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have something in my eye.” Alyssa said pardoning herself before climbing out of the RV.

“Look what you went and did. Making her cry like that.” Dean nagged.

“Just trying to make friendly conversation.” Frank shrugged innocently.

“This is not a friendship, Frank. I’m paying you!” Dean said getting angry again.

“Hey, you know what you need? A little LSD, a little shiatsu–”

“I’m out of here.” Dean cut Frank off and moved for the door.

“Hey! You wanna know what those numbers are? Bupkes. They’re not lottery numbers, license–”

“I know that, Frank. Thank you.” Dean interjected again.

“Which leaves us little else to do but probability generate.” Frank said calmly.

Dean’s annoyance and anger were replaced with confusion,

“Come again?”

“You run most reasonable possibilities for a levi-related five-digit number written by a dying drunk, you come up flat. Know what you start to wonder? ‘Hey, maybe I’m missing a number.’” Frank said taking a seat in the desk chair in front of his computer.

“Well, how do you figure?” Dean asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. Because Bobby was dying of brain trauma.” Frank said sarcastically, “I just had a tickle there was a reason nothing was popping out at us, so I set up a program to run possibilities for six numbers, seven, eight. But, good news.”

“ **Good** news?” Dean said.

“Never had to go past six, because this…” Frank said typing the numbers into his computer.

“…My little lamb, is coordinates.” He pressed enter and a location popped up on the screen.

“Are you sure? To what?” Dean asked leaning in to look at the screen.

“A field in Wisconsin.” Frank said looking at the screen.

Dean scoffed and hung his head,

“No. No, Bobby didn’t give us coordinates to some patch of weeds in cheeseville.”

“No. He gave you coordinates to a parcel recently purchased by Willman Inc., a subsidiary of…”

Frank imitated a fanfare,

“…Richard Roman Enterprises.”

Dean stood wiping his face,

“So what do we do?”

“Stay away. Or, if we’re stupid… we go there and set up surveillance.” Frank said standing up, facing Dean.

 

Back in Dodge City with Sydney and Sam, a coroner pulled a slab out with a corpse on it.

“Matthew Havlena– found in a ditch off the interstate.”

 “Cause of death?” Sam asked.

Both he and Sydney were dressed up in professional attire. Both in suits for the appropriate gender.

“Missing five pints of blood can’t have helped.” The coroner said looking at the file.

He pointed to the wounds on the body,

“Puncture wounds on the femoral arteries and carotid.”

“So, what? Some kind of animal attack?” Sydney asked.

“Or a vampire.” The coroner joked.

Sam and Sydney gave the coroner a look.

“Huh. That… usually gets at least a chuckle.” The coroner said.

Outside of the building Sam got on the phone with Dean while he and Sydney walked to their car,

“Find Frank?”

“ _Yeah. Those numbers? Coordinates. Dick bought some land. We’re headed there now._ ”

“Wait, wait, wait. You’re just gonna drive right up to–”

“ _Relax. It’s a field, not the Death Star. Dick’s at a TED conference. It’s all over the Huffington Post._ ”

Sam chuckled,

“Wait, wait, wait. Since when do you read?”

“ _Know your enemy, Sam… Also Ally checked. What’s going on with the girl?_ ”

“I don’t think she even knows her dad’s in the life. So far, we got three missing truckers and one blood-free body.”

“ _Good times. Alright, well, keep me posted._ ”

“ _Hold on! Lemme see that._ ” Alyssa’s voice called out in the background.

Some shuffling was heard and then Alyssa’s voice was clear over the line,

“ _Hey, Sam. Mind handing the phone to Sydney?_ ”

“Uh, sure, no problem.”

“ _Thanks!_ ”

“Hey, Lyssa. What’s up? Guess you didn’t kill each other yet, huh?” Sydney laughed once she got the phone.

“ _Ha ha. No, not yet, at least. Although Dean did almost kill this Frank guy. Well, technically we almost all killed each other, I’ll tell you later. Anyway, how about you? You okay? You have your GPS on?_ ”

“Of course I do. You?”

“ _Yup. Okay, well I just wanted to see how you were. Talk to you later. I love you. Bye._ ”

“Love you too, bye.” Sydney said hanging up the phone and handed it back to its owner.

On Alyssa and Dean’s end, Alyssa too hung up the phone and handed it back to its owner.

“Don’t you have your own phone?” Dean griped.

“You were already on the phone, so why not?” Alyssa said, sticking out her tongue at him.

Behind them the RV door opened,

“Got the equipment arranged. Come and get your costumes on. We can scoot.” Frank said before sticking his head back into the RV, closing the door behind him.

Dean and Alyssa looked at one another,

“’Costume’?”

“What?”

 

The three were now out at the field in Wisconsin dressed in hard hats and jumpsuits like electrical technicians with one of those box-craned trucks and everything, driven up next to one of the telephone poles.

“What the hell is so special about this place?” Alyssa asked.

“I love a mystery. Now one of you get up in that cherry picker and act like you’re fixing something.” Frank said pointing to the bucketed crane.

“I don’t know how to drive that thing.” Dean said.

“Me neither.” Alyssa chimed in.

“You think I do?” Frank said.

“Well, why do we got to be the saps that–” Dean started to gripe.

“This one says ‘manager’, those ones say ‘technician’. Sometime this month?” Frank said pointing out the designated patches on the uniforms.

Alyssa lifted her fist up for rock, paper, scissors and Dean quickly followed suit.

 

Dean started climbing onto the crane and into the bucket begrudgingly while Alyssa stood next to Frank with a triumphant grin as the two watched Dean. Dean nervously cried out as the crane jerkily moved where he wanted it to while below him Frank was looking around with binoculars. When he saw security cameras all around on surrounding poles, he sighed,

“Aw, crap.”

Just as Dean had finally made it to the top of the pole where the electrical box was, Frank called to him,

“Come on down, Tarzan.”

“What?!” Dean yelled back.

“Get down here.” Frank said annoyed, jerking his arm downwards.

Dean jerkily and quickly made his way back down looking at Frank and Alyssa questioningly once he got to the bottom.

“We need to move. They got this place wired up the wazoo.” Frank said, discreetly pointing the cameras out.

“They’re watching us right now?” Dean asked.

“Nah, nah, they’re just watching Cheech and Ed from Ma Bell.” Frank said sarcastically.

“You know, it’s gonna be a little difficult to set up surveillance if there’s uh, **surveillance** everywhere.” Alyssa said.

“Right. So we need to tap into theirs instead.” Frank said smiling mischievously.

 

Back at Frank’s RV, Frank was tapping at his computer until various videos of the field were brought up on the different screens.

“Alright, now what?” Dean asked as he and Alyssa sat side by side each in one of the chairs scattered around the RV.

“You look horrific. When was the last time you really slept a night? Not you, sweetheart, you look peachy keen.” Frank said asking Dean and then clarifying to Alyssa when she started to looking down at herself worriedly.

“Let’s just work, all right?” Dean said rolling his eyes.

“No, he’s right, Dean. You look like crap and you’re gonna be no good to us if you’re sleep deprived. I know for a fact that you haven’t been sleeping these last few weeks since we got to the cabin. When’s the last time you actually slept through a whole night or at all for that matter? My bed?” Alyssa reprimanded Dean.

Frank raised a brow at the bed comment but chose to ignore it.

“Really, this is it. We watch the screens. Short stuff and I can handle the first and second shifts. Like she said, you’re no use if you can’t even –” Frank started before Alyssa interrupted him.

“Uh, Frank?”

Dean was already passed out, slumped in his chair.

“…keep your eyes open.” Frank finished shaking his head at the motionless hunter and then turned back to the screens.

 

Meanwhile Dean’s cell phone silently vibrated as Sam tried to call him. When he didn’t pick up Sam left him a message,

“Dean, hey. So we think this guy was hunting a Vetala. Dad took one down back in the day. Silver knife to the heart, twist, they’re done.”

He scanned their dad’s journal,

“He says they’re maladjusted loner types. Like to knock a guy out, drag him home, feed slow. So, if Krissy’s dad got grabbed, there’s a chance he might still be alive. It’d be nice to get this girl’s dad back home to her, you know? All right, well we could always use more help. Call me.”

He hung up the phone as Sydney came out of the bathroom,

“You able to reach him?”

“No, voicemail. Think maybe he and Ally really might’ve killed each other?” Sam chuckled dryly.

“Nah, I doubt it. Besides, Lyssa would’ve texted or called and told me about it if that were the case. They probably just caught a lead. I’ll shoot her a text though and tell them to check Dean’s voicemail when they can.”

“Alright, cool. Well I’m going to check out that truck stop. You want me to bring you anything?” Sam stood.

“Yeah, that’d be great, thanks. I’m just gonna rest up real quick.” Sydney hoped onto her bed, getting comfortable.

 

At the truck stop Sam walked up to a blonde waitress, flashing a badge,

“Excuse me. Your manager said that you might be able to help me.”

“Sure. What can I do for you?”

He held up the picture he and Sydney had borrowed from Krissy,

“You ever see this man?”

“I… might have served him the other day.” She said before sighing and looked out the window a bit uncomfortably.

“I think he may have gone to… talk to that girl out there.” She said pointing out a scandalously clad girl hanging out in front of the diner.

Sam turned and looked, seeing the girl she pointed out.

“Thanks.” He said before leaving and heading outside.

“Hey! Can I talk to you for a second, uh…” Sam called to the girl reading her necklace as he neared her.

“Sally? You ever see this man?” Sam asked, showing her the picture.

She looked around nervously and said while shaking her head,

“No.”

“You sure?”

She smiled and acted like she was saying something completely different than the actual words she spoke in a scared whisper,

“It’s not safe here. Somewhere private.”

She led him in between the dozens of trucks until she got to a spot she deemed safe,

“Something’s happening around here. I’m afraid I’ll be next.” She said a little panicky.

“Tell me what you saw.” Sam said, serious.

“I don’t know what I saw.” The girl said before looking behind Sam with wide panicked eyes.

Sam turned around pulling a knife out. The blonde waitress from the diner was making a beeline towards them and started charging when Sam turned around. Sam striked out at the waitress but was quickly disarmed and pinned by his throat to one of the trucks they were between. Sam yelled out to the girl,

“Sally, run!”

When he turned his head to see where she was, she was already at his side with fangs out and snake-like eyes. Sam gasped in surprise before having his legs kicked out from under him. Then “Sally” bit him on the neck and he collapsed to the ground, knocked out.

 

Back at the RV, Dean who was leaning against a wall asleep just woke up. He blinked around confused before stretching and then asked,

“How long was I out?”

He noticed Alyssa was curled up asleep on the little bench next to him.

“’Bout 36 hours.” Frank answered, not taking his eyes from the screens.

“What?! Why didn’t you guys wake me?” Dean asked, taken aback.

“Not your butler and the girl didn’t want to, said you obviously needed it. Besides, we’ve been taking turns just fine. Now come see this.” Frank said pointing to the screen.

Dean groaned and slowly wheeled his way over,

“What?”

“This is where it gets good.” Frank said as a parked car came up on screen with two people going at it inside.

“Frank, you need to get out more.” Dean said looking away, disgusted.

“Not that.” Frank said fast-forwarding through the video until a woman in professional attire walking through the field with a clipboard showed up on the screen. Frank zoomed in on her,

“Check out Sarah Palin.”

“Who is she?” Dean asked.

“Amanda Willer. Surprise, surprise – works for Richard Roman.” Frank said pulling up her info on screen before going back to the video where Amanda and a group of workers were now seen standing in the field.

“What was she doing?” Dean asked.

“Being a naughty, bossy little girl.” Frank said smiling at his own joke.

“Well, I hate to ask for that in the non-porno version.” Dean looked disgusted again.

“They’re surveying. They’re getting ready to build something.” Frank said cutting the jokes.

“Build what?”

“Exactly. ‘What?’ No idea.” Frank said.

“Well, how do we find out?” Dean asked.

“We watch. Patience, grasshopper.” Frank said smiling again.

“Yeah, patience and me aren’t exactly on terms.” Dean said exasperated, wiping a hand over his face.

“Well then go out and kill something or whatever you kids do to blow off steam. Short stack over there makes a much better padawan than you, ya know.” Frank said while Dean looked bored, setting his face in his hand.

“What, you don’t like my suggestions?” Frank asked sassily when Dean gave him a look.

“I don’t think you’re in the position to be giving suggestions, alright? I think you’re one tinfoil hat away from a rubber room.” Dean said swirling his finger as he pointed to his head.

“Did I mention you look awful?” Frank said.

“ **Yes.** Maybe because somebody I cared about just got shot in the head. And this is like shoving a rock up a hill. And… screw you.” Dean said getting riled up.

“Here’s my advice you didn’t ask for – quit.” Frank said matter-of-factly.

“What?!” Dean said with indignation.

“You wanna keep going?” Frank asked.

“I want Dick Roman on a spit.”

“But you’re gonna drive yourself into the ground first. You and everyone around you. Good plan. Kid over there has been worrying herself sick, stressing over your well-being.” Frank said, chastising Dean.

Dean’s brows knit together as he silently gave Frank a look before looking down,

“I’m not gonna quit. It’s not even an option. I’m not gonna walk out on my brother or Ally and her sister.”

“Okay, then, fine. Do what I did.” Frank said quietly.

Dean scoffed,

“What? Go native? Stock up on C-rations?”

“No, cupcake. What I did when I was 26 and came home to find my wife and two kids gutted on the floor. Decide to be fine till the end of the week. Make yourself smile because you’re alive and that’s your job. Then do it again the next week.” Frank said completely serious, the most serious he’s ever been since Dean had first met him.

“So fake it?” Dean asked.

“I call it being professional. Do it right, with a smile, or don’t do it. Princess does it. She does it so you and everyone else don’t worry about her. The least you could do is repay the favor. Give her something less to worry about. She’s had it just as tough as you.” Frank said staring at the sleeping girl.

Dean stared at Frank silently, taking everything he just said to him in when his phone beeped at him. He checked the voicemail Sam left for him and listened as his brother described the Vetala he had thought he and Sydney were hunting with the details he got from their dad’s journal.

“No, no, no. Sam, that’s **not** right.” Dean said looking at his phone perturbed.

“What’s the guff?” Frank asked.

Dean’s phone beeped with an incoming call while Sam’s voicemail carried on. Dean switched over to the call,

“Sam.”

“ _No. Who’s this?_ ” A girl’s voice asked.

“Who’s this?” Dean asked back.

“ _Sam told me to call if I didn’t hear anything back from him or Sydney._ ”

A horrified look came over Dean’s face over what that meant.

 

Now in the vetala’s hideout Sydney was just coming to. After she had woken up from her nap she noticed that Sam had failed to come back to the motel. When he further failed to respond to any of her calls or texts she went to go check out the truck stop herself. Much like Sam, she went into the diner asking questions. She finally got to the blonde waitress herself and flashed her badge,

“Hi, I was just asking around to see if any of you had seen my partner? He said he was coming here to follow a lead. Really tall, brown shoulder length hair, good looking, brown puppy dog eyes.”

“Oh, him? Yeah he was asking around about some guy. Last I saw him he was talking to that girl out front.” The waitress easily complied, pointing out the skimpily dressed girl standing outside the diner.

“Thanks for your help!” Sydney said before leaving the diner to further investigate.

Sydney approached the girl much in the way Sam had and flashed her badge,

“Hi there, I was told that you talked to my partner. Tall, brown hair, brown puppy eyes, good looking.”

“Yeah, I talked to him. What do you wanna know?” The girl asked.

“I was wondering if you knew where he’d gone off to per chance.”

“He was asking about some missing guy and I told him that I had seen him looking through the trucks over there so he went to investigate and that’s the last time I saw him.” The girl explained, pointing to some of the trucks.

“Alright, thank you. Have a nice night.” Sydney said waving to the girl as she headed towards the trucks.

“Oh, I will, thanks.” The girl smiled to herself.

Sydney went down each line of trucks looking around for any clues. She got to the middle of one line when suddenly the blonde waitress was waiting at the one end. Alarms started ringing in Sydney’s head and she pulled a silver knife out. Behind her she heard footsteps. She turned around and saw it was the girl waiting in front of the diner.

“Oh shit.” Sydney cursed.

You can pretty much guess what happened next.

Back to the present, Sydney looked around groggily and saw a few dead bodies lying around and then Sam and Krissy’s dad tied up similarly to her – bloody bite marks on their necks, looking tired and haggard.

“That ringing in your ears – it’s from the venom.” Krissy’s dad said to Sydney.

“Venom?” Sydney asked.

“Yeah. They hit you with some kind of knockout juice.” Sam said.

“You both seem to be taking this pretty well.” Krissy’s dad said to the two.

“Yeah. Well, um… we were out there looking for you. Lee Chambers?” Sydney asked.

Lee nodded.

“We’re friends of Bobby Singer’s. Krissy called. She’s – she’s fine. She is. She’s just worried about you.” Sam told Lee.

Sydney grunted as she tried at the restraints,

“So how do we get out of here?”

Lee sighed,

“They’ll be back pretty quick here.”

“Just the two of them?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, they’re a tag team. One of them knocks you out, the other one dumps your rig or your ride or whatever. Miles down the road. It’s a pretty nice system they got.” Lee said seeming more and more tired as he talked.

“They’ve been draining you.” Sydney looked concerned.

“Yeah. They tap you three, four times, you’re dead. And let me tell you… You can’t see… You can’t walk. I thought they’d kill me right off, but they don’t have to. They got nothing to worry about.” Lee explained.

“How many times they fed on you?” Sam asked seriously.

“Three.” Lee said after a moment’s pause.

Sam and Sydney frowned at one another, now knowing how much of a dire situation he was in.

 

Back in Frank’s RV, Dean was tapping Alyssa awake. She rolled over, facing up and squinted at him, mumbling,

“My turn?”

“No. Wake up. You hear anything from Sydney?”

Alyssa, still lying down, pulled her phone out of her pocket, checking it,

“Not in the last day, but she did tell me that we needed to check your voicemail. That they think they’re hunting a vetala.”

“You guys ever hunt vetala before?” Dean asked.

“No. Never really heard of it till now.” Alyssa said.

“Well the info Sam has on them are wrong and I think something might have happened to the two of them.” Dean said with worry.

Alyssa shot up so fast she almost gave herself whiplash,

“What?! What do you mean?”

“Vetalas actually hunt in pairs but Sam, and now Sydney, doesn’t know that. Krissy, that missing hunter’s kid, called and said that Sam and your sister hasn’t checked in with her when they said they would.” Dean explained.

Alyssa already had her phone up to her ear, calling her sister. When Sydney didn’t answer, Alyssa texted her then went to check the GPS on Sydney’s phone, which didn’t come up nor would it turn on for her. Alyssa stared at Dean with panicked eyes,

“What do we do?”

 

Dean and Alyssa were now walking into Krissy’s apartment,

“Did Sam or Sydney tell you where they were going?” Krissy asked the two.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. What did you tell them?” Dean asked Krissy intensely.

“Uh… they checked my dad’s room.” Krissy said nodding towards a room.

“There?” Alyssa asked pointing to the room.

“Yeah.” Krissy followed the two hunters as they headed that way.

Dean turned on the light to the room as Alyssa immediately jumped into searching for clues. Krissy watched from the door as Dean walked to the center of the room looking around while Alyssa anxiously puttered around him, looking herself. Dean turned to Krissy,

“Look, we don’t have time to hold your hand here, so–”

“What are you saying?” Krissy asked indignantly.

“He’s saying go wait in the living room.” Alyssa whipped her head to the girl before carrying on with her search.

“Your dad may not want you to know **every** single thing about him.” Dean clarified.

Krissy leaned up against the door frame putting a hand on her hip with attitude. Dean gave her a look but gave up trying to convince her before turning around to start looking again. Dean opened the doors to the room’s closet just as Alyssa got there herself. Dean clicked the light on as Alyssa slid the clothes apart to reveal the back wall. It was bare except for a corner of map still pinned to it. Dean ripped the corner down and turned around to face Krissy who was now behind him and Alyssa. She had a knowing smirk on her face.

“Where is it?” Dean asked holding up the map corner.

“You mean everything about the job my dad was working?” Krissy asked.

Alyssa slowly turned and silently stared at the girl with blank eyes and mouth pressed into a thin line while Dean frowned,

“Sam and Sydney said you didn’t know.”

“ **Sam and Sydney** seemed competent, so I figured, fine – I’ll do what my dad always tells me to. ‘Be a regular kid, don’t say anything. Stay out of the line of fire. Let the adults work it out.’ So much for that.” Krissy scoffed.

“Alright. Hand it over. Okay? We’ve had a long, **long** week!” Dean raised his voice in exasperation.

Krissy quickly pulled out a pistol pointing it at Dean. Having had enough, Alyssa burst into action, swiftly disarming Krissy then grabbed the girl by the collar, backed her up until Krissy hit the wall behind her, hard.

“Alright, you fucking **child** , we’re done playing your games. I want to know where my sister is and I want to know **NOW**!” Alyssa snarled into the girl’s face.

Dean rushed to grab Alyssa off of Krissy, pulling her away until she was a good distance from the girl,

“Hey! Calm down, okay? It will be alright, you just need to calm down.”

Alyssa breathed heavily with anger but tried calming down. She nodded her head at Dean who turned back to Krissy making sure to place himself in between the two.

“Alright, I get it. You’re a tough kid. But we’re trying to get Sam, Sydney, and your dad back.” Dean said slowly approaching the now shell-shocked looking girl.

“My dad left, and he didn’t come back. Sam and Sydney left, and they didn’t come back. I give you two the info, you leave, you don’t come back.” Krissy said regaining her confidence.

“We’re coming back.” Dean said in earnest.

“I’m coming with you.” Krissy demanded.

“N-no. No. Hell no.” Dean gave her a look like she was crazy for even asking.

“I’m coming! Or you’re not going.” Krissy said haughtily.

Alyssa rushed forward again from behind Dean, who quickly caught and restrained her.

“This kid’s got a damn death wish!” Alyssa barked, struggling against Dean’s hold.

“Kid, hand over the info before I sick her onto you.” Dean said nodding his head down at Alyssa while strengthening his grip on the small woman.

Krissy looked down,

“I can’t. I burned it.”

“You what!?” Alyssa shrieked surging forward within Dean’s arms carrying him with her a step.

“But lucky for you two, I memorized it all first.” Krissy held her head up cockily.

 

The Buick was now racing down the road, Dean drove, Krissy was in the passenger’s seat, and Alyssa sat in the back glaring holes into the back of Krissy’s head. Krissy glanced back at Alyssa, saw the look she was giving her and quickly turned around, then glanced at Dean who was staring seriously out the windshield as he drove and picked him as the safer of the two to ask,

“Hey, I have a question.”

“Alright, here’s the deal. I’m a fun guy. I’m actually awesome. Okay? But right now I’m not in the mood. I’m neck deep in some serious crap, and if this wasn’t an emergency, I would drop your ass off at the nearest mall.” Dean said.

“Amen.” Alyssa commented from behind them.

“What serious crap?” Krissy asked Dean, ignoring Alyssa.

“Revenge crap, alright? Now shut up. Eat a cookie or something.” Dean said, having grown just as fed up with her as Alyssa had.

Krissy reached into her pocket and pulled headphones out, then put them into her ears. She sat there a second contemplating before yanking the headphones out,

“One thing doesn’t make sense, though. My dad’s a pretty great hunter, and your brother’s the size of a car plus he had Sydney for back up, so…so how’d this thing get’em all?”

Dean glanced over at Krissy before sighing in defeat,

“Vetalas usually hunt in pairs. Sam, Sydney, and your dad assumed it was one thing hunting solo.”

“Sam and Sydney probably – stupidly – split up. The vetalas undoubtedly caught one, and when the other one came to investigate, got them too. Easy pickings because they underestimated the enemy.” Alyssa said quietly.

“Why’d they think that?” Krissy asked.

“Because they had the wrong info. Or, best available. Our dad – me and Sam – took down a loner years ago. Sam has his journal. Ally said she and Sydney never hunted any vetala before so she didn’t know anything either. Your dad must’ve been going on the same facts as Sydney and Sam.” Dean said.

“And you know different ‘cause…?” Krissy asked, incredulous.

“Because I hunted one that turned out to be **two** , a couple years back.” Dean explained.

“And you never told Sam? Wow, thanks. How ‘bout sharing **that** with the rest of the class so we don’t all get killed?” Krissy said, getting snarky.

“Kid, roll back the attitude before I come up there and do it for you.” Alyssa warned.

“Sam was away at **Stanford** , smartass.” Dean said getting annoyed himself.

“Sam went to college? I thought you said your dad was a hunter.” Krissy said.

“He **was**. We **were**. Sam quit, went to college.” Dean clarified.

Krissy sat there looking dumbfounded.

“You could too, you know? Go to college. Be a hunter/pediatrician. It’s what Sydney and Ally are doing right now actually.” Dean said looking at Alyssa from the rearview mirror.

“Sydney and I are both working on our masters right now. Our parents were hunters too. We didn’t necessarily quit, but we didn’t go traveling to hunt like most hunters usually do. Just stayed local, didn’t want to stray too far and risk missing classes. We also picked majors that allowed us to find jobs where we would be able to work from home so when we finish school we could go back to hunting like normal. Just because you’re a hunter doesn’t mean you can’t get educated like everyone else.” Alyssa explained.

Krissy sat in silence, contemplating what Dean and Alyssa told her.

 

At the vetala’s hideout, the vetala, Sally, came in smiling,

“Hunter day at the all-you-can-eat. How’s everyone feeling? Good? Strong silent. Fine. I don’t need much entertainment with my meal.”

She walked over to Lee, bending over to smell at his neck, causing Sydney and Sam to stir in alarm.

“Hey, Sally, uh, did I tell you about the vetalas I took down in Utah?” Sam began loudly to draw her attention.

She looked up from her position at Lee’s neck, stopping what she was doing.

“Yeah. You remind me of them. Except they were so much… younger.” Sam antagonized.

Sally stood up straight from Lee and began walking towards Sam.

“I tied’em up. Not because I had to, more so…I could take my time.” Sam carried on.

“You’re lying.” Sally said looking at Sam with disbelief.

“No. I just want you to know how much I enjoyed cutting up your sisters.” Sam smiled at her provokingly.

“Shut up!” Sally yelled moving forward, grabbing Sam by the hair, jerking his head to the side, and biting his neck harshly.

Sam cried out in pain as more blood ran down his neck while Sally fed before quickly passing out from the venom.

 

Dean, Alyssa, and Krissy were now sitting in the truck stop lot – on the lookout for anything suspicious from inside the Buick. Dean glanced at Krissy as he took a sip of his takeout drink,

“You ever actually work with your dad?”

“Sure. ‘Course.” Krissy said staring out the windshield ahead.

“No, I mean work, not shoot cans in the woods.” Dean clarified.

“I mean, I help all the time.” Krissy looked over at Dean.

“So, no.” Alyssa said from the backseat, reading between the lines.

They took Krissy’s silence as a yes.

“Well, right about now your stomach should be pretty knotted up.” Dean said.

“Not really. Look, maybe this was a lot harder for you when you were my age.” Krissy said looking over at Dean smugly.

“Oh, you think you’re a good actress. You’re not.” Alyssa leaned forward between the seats.

“What are you talking about?” Krissy asked.

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but it’s all over your face – you’re scared.” Dean looked over at her.

“Quit treating me like I’m some girl. I’ve been prepping for this my entire life.” Krissy said.

“Oh please, don’t pull out the sexist card when I’m right here. He’d be saying the same thing even if you were a boy, so get over yourself. Training’s one thing. Doing – whole ‘nother beast.” Alyssa sneered at the girl.

“Wow. You really scared me straight. Thanks, Ally, Dean.” Krissy said sarcastically.

Dean frowned and turned forward again just as a woman walked away with a trucker while a blonde woman came up and got into his rig.

“Why is that waitress getting into that truck?” Krissy asked noticing what was going on.

“I’m not explaining the R-rated crap to you.” Dean said shaking his head.

“No, stupid. She’s talking about the **front** of the truck, not the back, Dean.” Alyssa pointed out the waitress driving the truck away.

Dean turned the ignition on and began to follow the truck. They were led to an abandoned warehouse, which the waitress went into.

“Alright!” Dean said excitedly. He held his fist up to Alyssa, who chuckled and tapped it with her own, and then to Krissy.

“What century is this? No one fist-bumps anymore.” Krissy gave Dean and Alyssa a look.

“We just did. Now come on. Give it up. Good work.” Dean shook his fist at Krissy.

“You’re a dweeb. Both of you.” Krissy scoffed.

Dean just shook his fist at her again. Krissy finally gave in and put her fist up when Dean grabbed it in one hand and put a handcuff on her wrist with the other – handcuffing her to the steering wheel.

“What the hell!” Krissy exclaimed.

“I have an idea. How ‘bout you stay here?” Dean said.

“Oh, you jackass.” Krissy said angrily.

“Yeah, well, I’m the jackass who ain’t bringing a kid in there, period.” Dean said.

“Good thinking, dude.” Alyssa commented approvingly.

“Why? I can do everything you guys can do.” Krissy pleaded.

“I’ll bring them back. Trust me.” Dean said opening his door.

“Please, they’re probably dead.” Krissy chastised.

Dean slammed his door shut,

“You don’t know that.”

“It’s been days. Probably just a pile of meat. I’ve seen it. People die, Dean. I watched my mom get torn to shreds. Let me go in there and kill them.” Krissy said getting emotional.

“Not to break up this pity party or anything, but, what do you mean, ‘I’ll bring them back.’ Don’t you mean, ‘We’ll bring them back.’?” Alyssa asked leaning forward through the seats.

“No. Sorry. And I meant, ‘I’ because you’re gonna stay here with the kid.” Dean said.

“You’re such a hypocrite.” Krissy said while Alyssa said at the same time,

“The fuck I am!”

“How come you get to do it and we don’t?” Krissy asked.

“I second this!” Alyssa agreed.

“Because I’m the grown-up and someone needs to stay here to keep her safe!” Dean yelled at the two of them.

After a moment’s silence Dean turned to Krissy.

“Give it to me.” Dean said.

“What?” Krissy asked.

“Your lock pick. Don’t want you pulling a Houdini on Ally. I **will** frisk you. Or better yet, I’ll have Ally do it because I’m thinking she won’t be as nice as me.” Dean said.

Krissy promptly pulled the lock pick out and handed it to Dean begrudgingly, refusing to look at him.

“Thank you.” Dean said taking it then opened his car door and got out.

“Splitting up right now is the stupidest thing we can do. We’ve already got proof of that!” Alyssa called after him as he shut the door and walked towards the building.

Krissy jerked at the handcuff while Alyssa sat back in her seat making a frustrated sound.

Dean picked the lock to the warehouse and slipped inside quietly. First thing he saw was a dead body lying near the door. He quickly closed the door behind him and silently moved forward.

“Good thing we picked up a new one. This one’s about tapped out. You want to finish him together?” The blonde waitress vetala said to the scantily clad vetala as she looked over the practically lifeless Lee.

“Sure.” The skimpily dressed vetala said.

Dean picked up a large metal beam and swung it at the brunette vetala when she went to make her way over to Lee and the other vetala – effectively knocking her out. The blonde vetala looked up from Lee’s neck in surprise. Dean dropped the beam and pulled out a silver knife moving forward to dispatch her.

“Not so fast.” The blonde vetala said, moving to meet Dean.

Dean swung at her but she smacked the knife out of his hand, then pushed him, making him fly into the wall behind him. She then went and grabbed Dean by the throat, holding him high. Sam started to come to again while Dean was able to successfully grab a crowbar from the table next to him and smack the vetala in the face with it. As Dean went to grab for his knife while the blonde vetala was incapacitated for the moment – Krissy ran in,

“Dad, hold on – I got you!”

As she went to pass the seemingly knocked out vetala, said vetala grabbed Krissy’s leg, got a better hold on her, and took her hostage.

“Krissy, no!” Lee shouted.

The vetala dragged Krissy with her to the other side of the room, getting as much room from Dean as possible.

“Let her go… or little miss sunshine here gets it.”

The blonde vetala stared up at Dean as he held the knife to her throat while Sam, Sydney, and Lee all looked to him, seeing what he would do. The vetala who held Krissy hostage slid her fangs out and her eyes changed to snake-like. Dean backed off the blonde vetala who quickly got up from her position on the floor, back over to Lee near her sister vetala.

“What were you thinking, bringing her here?” Lee asked looking browbeaten.

Sydney gave Dean a look that read,

“ _Where’s Ally?_ ”

Dean ignored it and moved forward towards the vetalas.

“Now drop the knife!” The vetala holding Krissy demanded, opening her mouth towards Krissy’s neck in warning.

Dean dropped the knife to the ground, raising his arms in surrender,

“She’s just a child. Let her go.”

“Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be letting anyone go.” The vetala said menacingly.

Everyone looked around at one another while Krissy cried,

“Daddy…”

“It’s okay, baby. Everything’s gonna be fine.” Lee said comfortingly.

The vetala holding Krissy pulled her back again, ready to strike.

“Alright. Enough with the family bonding. It’s time for you to shut up.” The blonde vetala said yanking Lee’s head aside going down to bite him.

“Daddy, no! Dean!” Krissy called out.

Dean watched helplessly while the vetala struggled to hold Krissy,

“He can’t help you. No one can.”

Krissy swiftly pulled a knife from her sleeve, turned around, and stabbed the vetala in the heart and twisted,

“I guess I’ll have to help myself then.”

The vetala fell, turning into a pile of dust. The other vetala stopped feeding and turned to run. Krissy then went and started cutting Sam, Sydney, and her father loose. Dean quickly picked up his knife, facing off with the blonde vetala. Alyssa came into the room from the opposite side Dean had come in, ran up to the vetala from behind, yelling,

“Hey!”

When the vetala turned, Alyssa immediately stabbed her in the heart and twisted the knife, effectively killing her.

“Bad actress, huh?” Krissy said as she worked on her dad’s restraints, already having freed Sam and Sydney.

“Yeah, I take it back.” Dean said breathlessly.

“I don’t. You impatient little ass hole. I told you to wait for the right time.” Alyssa reprimanded Krissy.

Krissy just gave her a look while everyone else caught their breath.

 

Now at the hospital, Sam, Dean, Alyssa, and Sydney all went into Lee’s room while Krissy waited out in the hall.

“Yeah, I was hoping you’d stop by. I wanted to thank you.” Lee said as the group walked up.

“It’s no problem.” Sam said humbly.

“No, you saved my life. Krissy’s too.” Lee said.

“Actually, uh, she kind of saved ours.” Sam said chuckling.

Alyssa scowled and looked up at Sam with abhorrence.

“Don’t thank us. Quit. Your daughter’s 14 years old. She’s already a hunter with a kill under her belt. I'm not trying to be a dick, but what do you think that does to her life span? She could still be a regular kid.” Dean said seriously.

Lee looked down, a bit guilty, then looked back up,

“You know, I got into this for a reason.”

“I know. Your family. That’s the same reason you should get out now.” Dean replied.

“I can’t. You ever know anyone who left the life?” Lee asked genuinely curious.

Dean shook his head,

“No. They all get killed first.”

Everyone looked down, soundlessly contemplating.

“Well, uh, we should probably let you get some rest.” Sydney said breaking the silence.

“Yeah.” Lee said, waving to them as they left.

As the group left the hospital, Krissy came running out after them,

“Dean! Ally! Thanks for saying bye, asshats.”

“Oh, what? Now you’re sentimental?” Dean asked as Alyssa waved Sydney and Sam to go on ahead.

“No. Just wanted to tell you guys that you’re amusing for old people. Even if you can be scary as hell.” Krissy directed the last at Alyssa.

Dean chuckled,

“So how’d you manage to convince ol’ grumpy here to set you free and go in with her, anyway?”

“Girl’s gotta have her secrets.” Krissy smiled.

Alyssa rolled her eyes,

“It wasn’t that hard. I wanted to go in anyway but still wanted to keep an eye on her. Fat lot of good that did since she can’t seem to **listen**.”

“You know, you could’ve gotten yourself killed with that stunt.” Dean said.

“I saved your bacon.” Krissy said.

Alyssa snorted, commenting,

“And almost burned yours in the process.”

“My point stands. But yes.” Dean said earnestly.

“So… guess I’m retiring – one and done.” Krissy smiled at the two hunters.

“Really? How you feel about that?” Dean asked in surprise.

“Who knows? Maybe I’ll go to Stanford or whatever college like Sam, Sydney, and Ally.” Krissy smiled when Alyssa raised a brow.

Krissy then raised her fists to the two. Dean smiled while Alyssa blew out through her nose – amused – as they bumped fists with her.

“We’re so lame.” Krissy smiled.

“Yeah, we are.” Dean smiled back.

“Pffft maybe you guys but not me. I’m fabulous.” Alyssa joked, flipping her hair with exaggeration.

Dean and Krissy rolled their eyes at her.

“Take care of yourself.” Dean said before turning and leaving.

“Try to not be as much of a pain in the ass.” Alyssa smiled before leaving too.

 

The group was back on the road again. Sam sat in the passenger’s seat while Dean drove and the girls sat in the back. The two were chittering amongst themselves – Sydney was going on about how mad she was that the vetala trashed her phone and Alyssa commented on how she should get her sister chipped instead of relying on the phone to know where she was. Sam quietly spoke to Dean,

“You know what? Good for them.”

“Yeah. It’s nice to walk away from something and feel like they could be okay. How about you? How you doing? You alright?” Dean asked Sam.

“No. I’m definitely not. But, you know, I mean, I think, maybe…I just want to work. Should I even ask?” Sam chuckled softly.

“I’m fine.” Dean said straight.

“’Fine’ meaning…?” Sam asked.

“You’re right. We should just… work, right? And figure out a way to kick Dick Roman’s ass. Well, hey, we are the professionals.” Dean said.

“Here, here!” Alyssa agreed, piping up from the back.

Sam looked at Dean wordlessly before turning on the radio and getting comfortable, leaning against the door to catch some sleep. The song, “Dear Mr. Fantasy” by Traffic began to play and Sydney and Alyssa sang along softly. Dean stared out the windshield silently thinking about what Frank had said. He smiled, and kept smiling – forcing himself to. He would continue to soldier on and he’d do it professionally, with a smile, or he wouldn’t do it at all.


	3. Time After Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follows along with season 7 episode 12 - Time After Time

Thunder began to rumble as the four hunters sat in the Buick, watching a man dressed in a trench coat and fedora go through some houses.

“Alright, let’s do this. Move fast.” Dean said pulling out his gun.

“Wait, wait, wait. What’s the plan exactly?” Sam asked from the passenger’s seat.

“Don’t die.” Dean said opening his door and getting out – everyone else followed suit.

They quickly began to tail after the fedora-wearing man.

“He’s heading downtown.” Sydney said as the group came to a momentary stop.

“Alright, you guys take the street. We’ll take the alley. We’ll meet you in the middle.” Dean said pointing to Sam and Sydney and then to himself and Alyssa.

The group split up accordingly and they went on their way again.

Led to a dark, secluded alley, Alyssa and Dean just rounded the corner as the fedora man kneeled over a man – a red energy flowing from the helpless man to the other. Alyssa and Dean’s eyes widened at the sight.

“Son of a…” Dean started when suddenly Alyssa took off down the alley towards the pair, Dean quickly went after her.

Just as the fedora man dropped the now mummified man to the ground and stood, Alyssa jumped, tackling him with Dean following suit right behind her. Sydney and Sam rounded the corner of the alley then themselves. The fedora-wearing man, Alyssa, and Dean suddenly disappeared in a flash of red lights and energy.

“Dean?” Sam called while Sydney called at the same time,

“Ally?”

They moved down the alley towards the forming ball of red energy where the trio had just been when the ball suddenly exploded in front of them. The two shielded their faces and when they looked up again all that was left in the alley was a mummified corpse. Sam and Sydney looked about in a panic, each calling out for their respective sibling,

“Dean?!”

“Alyssa?!”

 

Two days earlier:

 

Dean sat at a table in the abandoned house the group was currently holed up in, on Sam’s laptop looking up more info on Dick Roman while the other three hunters slept. A cell phone began to ring loudly near the three sleeping hunters, causing them all to stir. Sam sat up abruptly, looking around confused while the girls slowly sat up groggily. Sam looked over to Dean, who responded,

“Don’t give me that dirty-diaper look. I ain’t calling you.”

Sam reached over on the nightstand near him, grabbing his phone, then answered it,

“Hello?”

Alyssa and Sydney leaned against one another as they sat there watching Sam. Well, Sydney was squinting, trying to keep her eyes open, while Alyssa had already given up that fight, her eyes closed – she looked like she was nodding off again.

“ _Sam, it’s Jody Mills. I wake you?_ ” a feminine voice answered.

“The sheriff? Uh, yeah. Uh, I mean, uh–” Sam began, turning on the lamp next to him.

Sydney squeezed her eyes shut, turning her head at the sudden glare while Alyssa jumped awake, eyes flashing open. Dean watched the two of them over the laptop in amusement.

“ _Listen, I got something that smells like you boys. A body turned up in Canton, Ohio. Local P.D.’s trying to bury the story and the body._ ” Jody continued while Sam rubbed the sleep from his eyes and face.

“Okay, um, so, uh, what’s up with the body?” Sam asked.

Hearing the word ‘body’ Alyssa woke up a little more and watched Sam more intently while Sydney was still adjusting to the intruding light.

“ _Well, when it went missing, it was a perfectly normal grad student named Charles Durbin. When it turned up, the thing was mummified minus the wrapping. This is actually the second body found like this. Sound like a song you boys tap to?_ ” Jody asked.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s um…that’s our kind of number. Hey question – how does a sheriff in Sioux Falls get wind of a case in Ohio?” Sam asked curiously.

Everyone around Sam now watched him with supreme interest. Alyssa and Sydney’s brows furrowed in confusion when Sam mentioned the Sioux Falls sheriff.

“ _I’m just that nosy. Look, after everything I’ve been through with you boys and… **with Bobby** , you know, something like this pops up on the wire, it catches my ear. What can I say?_” Jody almost lost it when she mentioned Bobby’s name but quickly caught herself and was able to finish calmly.

“Well, we’ll look into it. Thanks, sheriff.” Sam said.

“ _Call me after, okay?_ ”

“Yeah.” Sam said and then the two hung up.

“That was Sheriff Mills. She caught us one.” Sam said putting his phone down.

“Oh, I feel bad. We didn’t get her anything.” Dean said sarcastically.

“How do y’all know the sheriff from Sioux Falls?” Alyssa asked.

“Some stuff happened back in Sioux Falls a while back and now the sheriff there knows about all the stuff we do after we helped. She’s actually been a big help to us on numerous occasions.” Sam explained, then he looked over at Dean, giving him a look,

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this but I hope you’re watching cartoon smut, because reading Dick Roman crap over and over again is just self-punishment.”

Sydney and Alyssa raised their eyebrows, looking at the two brothers a little disgusted. Dean looked at Sam, away, and then back again before closing the laptop,

“It’s called anime, and it’s an art form.”

Sam raised his brows and smirked while Alyssa covered her face with her hands and Sydney’s jaw dropped.

“Oh. My. God.” Sydney said in disbelief.

“ _Hentai_ , fucking _hentai_.” Alyssa commented – horrified – from behind her hands.

 

The group arrived in front of an abandoned house in Canton, Ohio.

“Well this looks nice. Check around back?” Dean said looking to the rest of the group.

“Oh boy, another hotel a la abandoned! Can’t wait!” Alyssa said sarcastically from the back, sitting next to Sam.

The group broke into the house and began looking around it, making it “cozier” and more functioning for them all to stay in.

“Well, there’s a semi-functioning bathroom and one un-rancid bedroom.” Sam said bringing down a chair he had found upstairs.

“Define semi-functioning and do not use the words, ‘hole in the floor.’” Dean looked repulsed.

Sam just silently raised his hands up for rock, paper, scissors, giving Dean all the answers he needed. Dean bent over seriously, pulling his sleeves back and raising his hands. Sam gave him a smirk and the two began their battle.

Sam was unrolling his bedroll in the room when Dean came to stand in the doorway,

“How does paper beat a rock? It’s stupid.”

“Just like how we’re commandeering this room now because we’re women and you two are out of your damn minds if you think we’re gonna sleep in any of those other rooms.” Alyssa said coming up from behind Dean with Sydney, squeezing past him.

“What? No way! I won fair and square.” Sam said guarding his bedroll defensively.

“Sharing is caring, Sam. You can stay if you want but we’re not leaving.” Sydney smiled as she and Alyssa put their own bedrolls down.

“This is so unfair.” Sam grumbled.

“Now you know how I feel.” Dean said as he watched on in amusement.

 

“Kids playing hide-and-seek found the body.” Sydney said as Dean opened the file she and Sam had gotten from the police station.

“Wow. Very king Tut.” Dean said as he and Alyssa, who looked over his shoulder, looked at pictures in the file.

“Yeah, so, this is where the eyewitness to the assault lives but the cops are calling him an unreliable witness.” Sam said pointing to the house the four of them were standing across from.

“Because?” Alyssa asked.

“Let’s find out.” Sydney said as she began to cross the street.

All four of them were in their FBI agent “professional” get ups. Alyssa wore her blonde hair up in an intricate bun while Sydney had her dark hair in a French braid, courtesy of her sister. Sam knocked on the door while the rest of them got their badges out. A man opened the door and Dean began,

“Special Agent Smith. This is uh, Special Agent Smith. No relation. And that’s Walters and Braeden.” Dean said pointing to himself, Sam, Alyssa, and then Sydney accordingly.

“Whoa. Do you mind if we, uh…My mom’s sleeping in there.” The guy said twitchily, coming out and closing the front door behind him.

He wore a blanket around his shoulders and nervously looked at the group,

“S-so, how can I…?”

“Oh, we, uh – we had a few questions about the incident you witnessed in the alley.” Sam said.

“You just gonna laugh at my story like the rest of the suits?” The man asked, growing irritated.

“We’re not gonna laugh at you.” Alyssa looked serious – then smiled at the man in reassurance.

The man sighed but took her word for it,

“Alright, well, I’m on the steps…medicating…when I hear fighting. So I look. There’s my neighbor Durbin, and some dude dressed like my grandpa’s got him by the neck, right?”

“What do you mean he looks like your grandpa?” Sydney asked.

“Uh… snappy shoes, suit, one of those, um, Justin Timberlake hats.” The man said searching for the word.

“Y-you mean a – a fedora?” Sam asked giving the man a look.

“Aha!” The man exclaimed, nodding his head.

“Did you see anything else?” Dean asked.

The man sighed with this look of awe,

“This red, like, energy passed through Durbin to hat guy. Even my watched stopped. Durbs…He aged before my eyes. He looked like a raisin.”

“Well, we believe you.” Alyssa said sincerely.

“Thanks for your help.” Sydney said as the man nodded excitedly for having been finally believed.

“Thank you officer – officers.”

The four turned around and left, Dean mouthing,

“Wow.”

 

The four were back at their abandoned house base. Dean scoured his dad’s journal while Sam, Sydney, and Alyssa all searched on their own laptops.

“Yep. Nothing that turns a dude into a crypt keeper. You guys?” Dean asked after setting the journal on the table, going for another beer.

“Uh, well, great Canton turns out kind of a hot spot for weird dead bodies.” Sam said.

“Hmmm. You don’t say.” Sydney commented.

“Yeah. News archives. They’re not exactly reporting, uh, mummifies. But still – 1928, three deaths cited as spontaneous combustion. Bodies ‘shriveled despite no signs of fire.’” Alyssa said turning her laptop to show everyone.

“Little stretch, but okay.” Dean said.

“’74, three bodies found with leathery decay. Uh, ’57, three more – severe dehydration. But this time one made the front page. Girl named Terry Cervantes found a corpse near her church.” Alyssa continued pulling up a picture of the front page.

“Any pattern here other than the location?” Dean took a swig of beer.

“Random vics, random years. But they seem to drop in threes.” Sam said from his laptop.

“That’s two down, one to go.” Sydney looked at everyone.

“Alright, let me drive for a sec.” Dean said taking Sam’s laptop.

“What, are you gonna look up more anime, or are you strictly into dick now?” Sam joked.

Dean gave an aggravated,

“ _Oh my God are you serious?_ ” look.

While Alyssa and Sydney shook their heads at Sam’s horrible pun – Dean just tapped away at the keyboard bringing up a bunch of surveillance footage of the town. Sam looked at Dean like he had just grown three heads.

“Hmmm.” Dean smirked.

“Are those local feeds?” Sam asked in shock.

“Yeah.” Dean said triumphantly.

“How did you do that so fast?” Sam asked.

“A little tutorial from Frank. Don’t worry. We’ll pretend this never happened.” Dean smirked again, taking a drink of beer while Alyssa and Sydney snickered.

“Now, mummy numero dos was found at the gas n’sip near Main Street, correct?” Dean asked typing away at the laptop again.

“Yeah.” Sam said scooting closer trying to figure out how Dean was doing what he was doing.

“Alright, well, here’s all the cameras around that store.” Dean clicked his tongue.

“You need to teach me that trick.” Sam looked embarrassed.

“Me too!” Sydney peeked at the screen.

“Don’t worry, I got you. Frank taught me some stuff too!” Alyssa patted her sister’s shoulder.

“Hey, check it out – Timberlake.” Dean chuckled pointing the man out after gloating some more.

“Wait a sec.” Sam turned the laptop back to himself.

“You can’t let me bask in the glory for one second, can you?” Dean complained.

“Shut up. Look.” Sam said pulling up the picture of the front page news article Alyssa had found, zooming in on a man in the picture and placing it side-by-side next to the paused video feed of the fedora wearing man. The two looked exactly alike, even wearing the same outfit.

“He hasn’t aged a day, has he?” Alyssa said taking a closer look.

“Alright, well, if he’s been popping up for decades now, then somebody’s bound to know who he is, right? Is there any chance that, uh, Terry’s still local?” Sydney asked.

 

“You know it’s so pretty in the spring. Everything’s blooming. That’s why I walked home that way – to see the flowers. Instead, I found that body. I still have no idea what could have done that to a person.” Terry Cervantes, no longer a child but an older woman, said looking at the printed out article the group handed her.

“Do you recognize that man?” Dean asked pointing to the fedora man.

“Yeah. I mean, he lived on my parents’ street. Mr. Snider.” Terry said.

“Where’d you say your parents live?” Sam asked with a smile.

 

The group now sat outside Mr. Snider’s house in their car. The four were eating fast food they grabbed on the way there.

“So, what exactly is this thing? Some sort of vampire who got too sucky?” Alyssa asked with a momentarily unfilled mouth.

“Nope. Coroner’s reports said there was blood in both bodies. 300 year old blood, but blood.” Sam said around a mouthful of food.

As Dean went to take a drink of his soda he noticed Mr. Snider leaving his house,

“Dude, dude. Uh, fedora dude.”

Everyone came to attention, watching the man out of the windshield.

“Alright, let’s do this. Let’s move fast.” Dean said getting his gun out.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s the plan here, exactly?” Sam asked.

“Don’t die.” Dean said getting out of the car, everyone else following suit.

They hastily tailed after Snider.

“He’s heading downtown.” Sydney said as the group came to a momentary stop.

“Alright, you guys take the street. We’ll take the alley. We’ll meet you in the middle.” Dean said pointing to Sam and Sydney and then to himself and Alyssa.

The group split up accordingly and they went on their way again.

Led to a dark, secluded alley, Alyssa and Dean just rounded the corner as Snider kneeled over a man, a red energy flowing from the helpless man to the other. Alyssa and Dean’s eyes widened at the sight.

“Son of a…” Dean started when suddenly Alyssa took off down the alley towards the pair, Dean quickly went after her.

Just as Snider dropped the now mummified man to the ground and stood, Alyssa jumped, tackling him with Dean following suit right behind her. Sydney and Sam rounded the corner of the alley then themselves. Snider, Alyssa, and Dean suddenly disappeared in a flash of red lights and energy.

Alyssa and Dean landed on Snider as they hit the ground. Snider quickly got up, pushing the two off of him. Dean grabbed at him, catching sight of the ring on his finger before Snider pulled from Dean’s grasp before running off. Alyssa pushed Dean – who was now on top of her – off. The two got up and ran after Snider, Dean yelling after him,

“Hey! Hey! Hey!”

Dean pulled his gun out, cocking it, while Alyssa focused strictly on chasing after Snider. The two ran out of the alley on to the busy street, Snider having disappeared into the crowd. Everyone stared at the two, whispering amongst themselves at the sight. Alyssa and Dean looked around in confusion, seeing cars and clothing on the people that belonged to a different era. Two cops got out of the parked car the two had stopped in front of.

“Hey, you! Drop the gun!” One of the cops said pointing their own gun at Alyssa and Dean.

“Put it down! Drop the gun!” The other cop said pointing his gun too.

Alyssa jabbed an elbow into Dean’s side,

“Hurry up, Dean.”

“Alright.” Dean said dropping the gun to the ground, raising his arms in surrender.

The cops came up and apprehended the two accordingly as they continued to look around confused as to what the hell happened and where they were.

 

A cop sat across from a handcuffed Dean, examining all the things they had found on him – currently looking at his pocket knife.

“Okay, can I just –” Dean started.

“Don’t.” The cop held a hand out in front of Dean’s face.

“Listen to me.” Dean started again.

“Hey, if you tell me you’re from the bureau one more time, I’m gonna air you out myself. Got it?” The cop warned.

Dean closed his mouth and dropped his hands back down to the table. The cop started fiddling with Dean’s cell phone next,

“No signal. Are you some kind of Jerry spy?”

“Jerry who?” Dean asked, confused.

The cop scoffed at Dean,

“And a terrible one at that. This badge was issued 68 years from now. Ace work, Kraut-muncher.”

Dean sat there running the numbers in his head,

“’44? I’m stuck in 1944?! Oh Ally is gonna be pissed.”

“We’re all stuck in 1944, ya bunny. Ally your little girlfriend we found with ya? Bonny to your Clyde?” The cop mocked.

Behind them the door opened. When the cop saw who it was stepping in, he quickly straightened up, grabbing his hat, standing, and then left. The cop stopped in front of the man.

“Take a powder.” The man told the cop.

“Yes, sir.” The cop said then left the room.

“Look, I don’t even frigging like sauerkraut, okay, so you can just skip the–” Dean began to the new guy.

“What happened in the alley? And paint me a real picture.” The man interrupted.

He wore a fedora, trench coat, suit, tie – the works.

“Alright, well, I’m ’12 monkeyed’ no matter what I say, so here goes. My friend, Ally, and I were chasing this dude. Uh, we just saw him mummify a guy. Yeah. So, we jumped him. He lights up red. Poof, we’re in 1944.” Dean explained.

The man dropped the file in his hand to the table and sat down where the cop had previously just sat. He removed his fedora gently placing it on the table too,

“Tell me more about the red light.”

“Are you seriously asking –”

“You want out of this jail, you’re gonna tell me everything you can about that man and the so-called light.” The man interrupted Dean again.

“Okay. I saw it, and then we were here.” Dean answered.

“Would you say that, uh…it was all around you and your friend or more that it came from inside this fella?” The man asked.

“You believe me. Are you…? You’re a hunter.” Dean said in realization.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The man shook his head at Dean.

“Demons, ghosts, shifters. Hey, I’ve killed’em all. And you’re the same. Just 68 years before me, huh?” Dean smiled at his conclusion.

The man’s mouth twitched and he sighed before extending his hand to Dean,

“And your name is…?”

“Dean… Winchester.”

“Ness. Eliot Ness.”

Dean’s eyes widened, his lips parting slightly in awe.

 

Back in the present, Sam and Sydney were making a wall of info about the job on one of the walls in the abandoned house. Sam sighed while Sydney had her arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot anxiously as she looked at everything. Suddenly Sam’s phone rang, causing the two to jump. Sam swiftly went and answered his phone while Sydney watched on hopeful,

“Dean?”

“ _No. Why? Where’s Dean?_ ” It was Jody on the other end.

“The thing that’s been mummifying people took him and Ally – another hunter friend of ours – in a frigging ball of light and disappeared. Ally’s sister, Sydney, and I have been waiting anxiously to hear back something, anything, from them.” Sam explained.

“ _You guys get that a lot?_ ” Jody asked.

“Yeah, more than most people.” Sam said shaking his head at Sydney when he turned around, noticing her watching him hopefully, who visibly wilted at the news.

“Well, I got you into this, so–” Jody began.

“No, no, no, you didn’t. A-all you did was just–” Sam interrupted.

“Shut up, Sam. How can I help?” Jody said interrupting his interruption.

“Well, um…how do you feel about driving and lifting boxes?” Sam asked.

 

Back in 1944, Dean was putting all his stuff back that the police had confiscated. Ness came back into the room with another file and Alyssa trailing behind him.

“I see it didn’t take you long to crack, Dean.” Alyssa smirked at the taller man.

“Yeah, he was a lot easier to get it out of than you. You’re one hard cookie, y’know that?” Ness said to Alyssa.

“Well, I happen to know that everyone in this time period is real slap happy when it comes to slapping someone into an asylum if they think you’re even remotely crazy. I wasn’t taking any chances. Dean’s lucky he spilled to the right person.” Alyssa said looking to Dean seriously.

Dean gave Ness a wide-eyed look.

“She’s not wrong. You are pretty lucky it was me.” Ness said to Dean.

Dean frowned momentarily before quickly replacing it with a smile as he giddily began at Ness,

“Well, it doesn’t matter now, ‘cause you’re a hunter! And not just some hunter, dude, I-I got to tell you, I mean, ‘Untouchables’ is, like, one of my most favorite movies ever.”

“What?” Ness looked at him funny.

“I must have seen that thing, like, 50 times.” Dean smiled, geeking out.

“Way to be a fan boy, Dean. Wait, is this how I look when I’m geeking out over something? Oh, God.” Alyssa said with a small look of horror.

“’Seen it?’ What, like, I’m in the–” Ness started to ask.

“Oh, yeah, yeah! You don’t even know! Oh, you are – pbht!” Dean said making explosion noises.

“Who is this guy, exactly?” Alyssa questioned looking up at Ness from his side.

“Dude, its Eliot Ness. **The** Eliot Ness.” Dean explained excitedly.

“Huh.” She raised her brows and nodded slightly.

“That’s it?! Just huh?! It’s Eliot freakin’ Ness we’re talking about here I mean–” Dean said getting worked up.

“Look, hey, wait, wait, wait. Let’s just…slow it down. Okay? Now, time travel. Is that something you find up a lot of sleeves in the future or…?” Ness asked.

“No, no, no. It’s, uh, not normally on the menu. Trust me. We’re as surprised as you are that we’re here.” Alyssa explained.

“So we’re hunting the same thing, just in different centuries?” Ness exhaled sharply before opening the file showing the two what was inside,

“Two bodies. A few days apart just a little over a month ago. One witness said that she saw an assailant light up red after sucking the life out of a man.”

“Awesome.” Dean commented as Alyssa read over his shoulder.

“How does that fill you with awe?” Ness asked, confused.

“He’s being sarcastic. We do that a lot in the future.” Alyssa clarified.

“Look, Dean, Alyssa, this thing, it kills–” Ness began.

“In threes.” Dean finished for him.

“In threes.” Ness nodded his head.

“But you already know that.” Dean smiled shyly.

“He’s two down.” Ness said.

Alyssa couldn’t help but smile, amused at Dean’s excitement over meeting a hero of his. She thought he was being rather cute, although she’d never tell him that aloud. Ness contemplated a moment looking at the two before closing his file,

“You two are coming with me. We’ve got to get this thing before it grabs the last one.”

“Okay, so, so, wait, uh… does this mean that we’re untouchables now?” Dean asked eagerly.

“It means we got to get you two into some new clothes. You look like some kind of bindle stiff. And you – well you definitely stick out too.” Ness said to Dean and then Alyssa before he turned for the door.

Dean looked down at his clothes a little insulted, saying,

“Stiff your br– bin– what?”  

Meanwhile Alyssa caught up to Ness,

“So the other cops will let us go just like that? I figured they’d want to keep ahold of me for a little bit longer.”

Dean caught up, frowning in confusion,

“Why would they–”

“I may or may not have led them to believe that I’m a German spy.” Alyssa said with a mischievous grin.

Dean looked to Ness, who said,

“When I went in to get her, she was going on a tangent in German at the officer who was interrogating her. You sure she ain’t no spy?” Ness momentarily stopped to ask Dean.

“No, I’m definitely sure. She’s just a – a foreign languages major.” Dean said shaking his head at the girl who skipped merrily ahead of the two – sticking her tongue out, antagonizing the cops she passed by.

“Alyssa Wieger, educated hunter, at your service.” Alyssa said flipping around in front Dean and Ness, holding up a peace sign.

“ **She** went to college?” Ness asked, doubtful.

“Yes! I know! Shocking isn’t it? I’m **just** as surprised as you are!” Alyssa said, the sarcasm practically dripping from her pores as she put a hand to her chest in mock surprise then spun around, skipping ahead of them again and out of the station.

“She certainly is a firecracker, that one.” Ness commented as he watched her disappear further through the station.

“You’re telling me.” Dean said dryly but cracked into a smile, unable to help it as he too watched her happy form disappear ahead of them.

 

The trio pulled up in front of a tailor’s – Dean and Alyssa got out of the car looking around curiously, while Ness headed straight inside – grabbing the two by the arm, pulling them inside with him – all business.

“Hey. What’s the rumpus, Eliot?” A woman asked looking over her shoulder momentarily as she worked over on a pair of pants.

“Ezra Moore. Dean Winchester and Alyssa Wieger.” Ness pointed to the two hunters with him in introduction.

The older woman turned around on her stool, looking at the two newcomers.

“Hey.” Dean smiled while Alyssa gave her a small wave.

“Who’re they? Some farmer clowns?” Ezra asked Ness.

Dean looked at Ness a little offended while Alyssa just raised her brows at the woman.

“They’re, uh, from the future.” Ness explained.

“Yeah. Gas costs four bucks. You can get cheese out of a spray can. And… the president? He’s a black guy. I could go on.” Dean smiled proudly.

“Please don’t. Those are horrible examples. How about the fact that we’ve got colored T.V., air-conditioning, no more segregation, and the president isn’t just black, he’s black **and** white. Definitely more significant.” Alyssa chided Dean.

“Paint me impressed. I assume you two need some clothes. Come on.” Ezra said standing, sounding totally unimpressed.

 

In the future – er, present – Sam was opening the door for Jody who had some boxes in her hands.

“Hey, let us, uh – let us help you with those.” Sydney offered.

“No. I got these. You guys go get the other 20 in my truck.” Jody said bringing the boxes in and setting them in the living room space.

“Seriously?” Sam asked, his eyes widening a little.

“Yeah. I think Bobby may have had a slight hoarding issue. I could barely get the door open on that storage locker. And, um, I’m pretty sure something’s alive in at least three of those boxes.” Jody said smiling.

“Uh oh. Ally’s not gonna be happy about having more books that we’ll have to organize and archive. We barely finished going through the books at Rufus’. By the way, hi, I’m Sydney Wieger. I don’t think we’ve ever officially met.” Sydney said extending a hand to Jody.

“Jody Mills. Nice to meet you. You knew Bobby too?” Jody shook Sydney’s hand.

“Yeah. Bobby was like a second dad to me and my sister. He took care of us when we were kids, for a long while, until we were able to move out.” Sydney smiled fondly.

“I didn’t know Bobby ever took care of any kids.” Jody said.

“I’m pretty sure you weren’t sheriff yet when we were around and besides I don’t think that town knew much of what Bobby did anyway. Well we better start unloading” Sydney laughed slightly, leaving to go to the truck outside – Sam followed behind her.

 

In 1944, Dean was suiting up. Gone was his brown military coat that he wore over an open grey-green long-sleeved button-up shirt and black t-shirt, blue jeans, dark brown timberland boots, and slightly spiked hair. In their place he wore a white long-sleeved suit shirt, light blue tie, dark blue vest, suit jacket, slacks, and brown leather oxford shoes, everything tailored to fit him like a glove. His hair was slicked and parted into a 1940’s style that suited him well. He stepped out of his dressing room smiling just as Alyssa nervously stepped out of hers. Before she changed, she had worn a black crop-top leather jacket over an open blue flannel long-sleeved button-up shirt and white vintage t-shirt, skinny jeans that hugged her figure, black feminine combat boots, her hair down, and minimal makeup. She now wore a white short-sleeved button-down blouse and a black A-line skirt that went to her knees, both synched at her waist, showing off her feminine figure in a flattering way. Over her blouse she wore an open black bolero jacket. Under her skirt she wore nude stockings and black and white leather Mary Jane heels. Her long blonde hair was put up into a 1940’s coiffure and her makeup was delicate except for her bright red ruby lips. Dean’s eyes widened appreciatively, brows raised, smiling,

“Wow, you look great.”

Alyssa smiled shyly, her cheeks coloring faintly,

“Thanks. You’re looking pretty dapper yourself.”

Ness whistled at the two of them,

“Looking sharp, guys.”

The two went to look at themselves in the three-way mirror. Ezra went to check Dean’s suit to see if it was fitting right while Alyssa blushed a little deeper as she looked at herself in the mirror.

“This reminds me of the time I dressed like Marilyn Monroe in high school. I really love wearing vintage clothes. Only time I look pretty.” She smiled at herself in the mirror.

Dean wanted to comment,

“You look pretty no matter what you wear.”

But he kept it to himself. When Alyssa moved out of the way Dean stepped closer to the mirror, looking himself over and smiled wider,

“Awesome.”

“’Awesome?’ You some religious kook?” Ezra asked looking at Dean funny.

Alyssa giggled slightly while Ness answered,

“No, he just likes saying that.”

“So, spill already. What bucket of syrup did you idjits step into?” Ezra asked, finally done looking Dean over.

Dean chuckled softly while Alyssa had a pained expression paint her face.

“Something funny, sweetheart?” Ezra asked.

“No, you, uh…you just kind of remind me of someone.” Dean said looking over to Alyssa, giving her a comforting smile when he saw her expression.

Alyssa took a deep breath before righting herself and smiled back at Dean, showing him that she’d be alright.

“Okay, Ezra…we need your help. It seems we’re hunting a time traveler.” Ness said.

“Delightful.” Ezra said sarcastically.

 

In the present, Sam stood looking at the info wall, Sydney was scouring through some books, and Jody typed away at Sam’s laptop.

“Got it.” Jody said.

Sydney and Sam went over to see what she found – looking over her shoulders at the laptop screen.

“Looks like fedora man – 1968.” Jody said pointing him out in a picture.

“Is that a – is that a ring on his finger?” Sam asked.

Jody zoomed in on Snider’s hand in the picture,

“Yeah.”

Sydney squinted at the picture before going to pick up one of the books she had been looking through bringing it back over to the laptop with everyone else,

“I know that symbol.”

 

In 1944,

“It’s the infinite hourglass.” Ezra told the trio of hunters.

“That’s the symbol I saw on his ring.” Dean said.

“Yeah, that’s the–”

“–Mark of Chronos.” Alyssa finished for Ezra with a look of insight.

“Who?” Dean asked.

 

“The God of Time.” Sam read over Sydney’s shoulder.

“That’s crazy.” Jody said.

“The thing is, with the old gods, once upon a time they were just short of invincible. But they got a lot of their mojo from worshippers, from people feeding them.” Sydney explained.

“These days, not so much.” Jody realized.

“Right, they’re not what they used to be. But they make up for lack of power with being twice as pissed and a lot more hands-on.” Sam said, sounding like he spoke from personal experience.

“Okay – so why’s this god killing people?” Jody asked.

 

“Could be he’s killing folks for his time juice.” Ezra explained, going through her book collection.

“Alright, well, how the hell are we gonna ride him back to 2012?” Dean asked putting Bobby’s leather-covered flask in his suit jacket pocket while Alyssa also pondered how they’d get back.

“Well, you could let him grab one of you, if you don’t mind him using one of you for gasoline.” Ezra said looking at the two.

 

“So, how do we get them back? How do we even find this Chronos?” Jody asked becoming frustrated.

“Best stab? We find a way to summon a god.” Sydney sat back in her seat, looking at the two.

 

“Look, let’s just stick with what we know. Ezra, see if you can find something in all this junk that will kill a god.” Ness said.

“No trouble at all. Come back in a few hours, see what I can scrounge up.” Ezra told the group confidently.

“You said you guys found his house? Well, let’s go see if it’s been built yet. And then let’s kill that bastard, because that–” Ness started putting on leather gloves.

“–Is the Chicago way.” Dean finished for him – imitating Sean Connery – putting a grey fedora on.

Alyssa face-palmed while Ness and Ezra looked at Dean like he was crazy.

“’The Chicago way’?” Ezra echoed, confused.

“Who talks like that?” Ness asked Dean with a “ _What the fuck?_ ” look.

“Sean Connery.” Dean said, still imitating him.

Ezra and Ness just stared at Dean blankly while Alyssa snorted at their reactions.

“Come on.” Ezra said holding a matching grey trench coat out for Dean to wear.

“Never watching that movie again.” Dean grumbled, putting the coat on.

Alyssa put on a white cloche hat and then looked around in confusion at all her stuff while Dean and Ness started heading out the door,

“Wait! Where the hell am I supposed to put all my stuff? I don’t have any pockets!”

Ezra smirked, raising her eyebrows as she held out a small black purse to Alyssa. Alyssa took the purse frowning, and muttered,

“Are you shitting me?”

 

The trio arrived at Chronos’ house. Dean looked through the windows over the front door while Alyssa stared at him with disgusted jealousy that he was able to do so, so easily.

“It looks empty. You guys got a lock pick?” Dean asked the other two.

“Sure.” Ness said before kicking the door in with ease.

Alyssa and Dean jumped in surprise while Ness walked in confidently, pulling a gun out. Alyssa looked at Dean with raised brows, grinning,

“I like his style.”

Dean grinned back and the two went into the house following after Ness – pulling their own guns out – closing the front door behind them. Ness moved to the living room and waved Alyssa and Dean in – notifying them it was safe.

“Take a look around.” Ness directed the two.

“Where’s he getting all the lettuce to support this?” Ness pondered aloud.

The three of them looked around the room, poking through drawers and such. Alyssa picked up a book on the coffee table in the middle of the room, flipping through it.

“Ah!” She exclaimed.

Dean came over and looked over her shoulder,

“He’s using the ‘biff strategy.’”

“Using what?” Ness asked still looking through a cabinet on the other side of the room.

“Chronos is betting on races he already knows the outcome of. Look at this.” Alyssa clarified, waving him over.

Ness looked over Alyssa’s other shoulder at the book,

“He’s spent a lot of time in ’44.”

“Yeah.” Alyssa nodded.

Dean pointed to one of the pages,

“What’s ‘L.Y.’?”

“It’s not a what. It’s a who. Lester Young. He lays bets for a lot of the flunkies in town. Let’s say we go pay him a visit.” Ness told the two with a smile.

 

“Hey! W-whoa! Hey! Hey! Easy with the jacket!” A little mousy-looking guy complained in a nasally voice as Dean manhandled him into the interrogation room – Ness and Alyssa following close behind.

Dean threw the man, Lester Young, into the interrogation chair with ease.

“Yeah, I ain’t talking. I’m no stoolie.” Lester chuckled before Dean threw a punch at him, knocking Lester in the chair backwards.

“Dean!” Alyssa exclaimed with wide eyes and dropped jaw.

Ness gave Dean a, “ _Really, nigga?_ ” look.

“I learned it from watching you.” Dean shrugged at Ness before easily righting Lester in the chair.

Ness sat on the table across from Lester, leaning towards him, while Dean came to stand by Alyssa off to the side.

“Look, you seem like a swell guy, Lester. And I want to help you out. I do, but my partner here? He just got back from the war. And he’s spent the last two years kicking in Nazi skulls. If he doesn’t kick in a skull every couple days, he gets real touchy.” Ness said playing the good cop while Dean worked his way out of the trench coat and suit jacket, messing with his cuffs in an intimidating manner.

“What about the broad?” Lester asked nervously, pointing out Alyssa who stood there looking innocent as could be.

“Her? Oh, she’s worse. She’s actually a spy who just got back from infiltrating the Nazis. She’s killed numerous Krauts without them suspecting a thing. Never saw her coming.” Ness continued to fabricate.

Alyssa slowly walked over to Lester while a fierce smile broke out across her face. She slid a hand in an unnerving manner across his back as she passed, then crouched to the side of his face, whispering German into his ear menacingly. Dean began to close in on Lester, raising his voice,

“Lester. That a German name?”

“Hey, okay, okay. There’s no need to snap your caps. W-who you looking for?” Lester started nervously.

Alyssa backed off but remained behind Lester as a threatening presence, hands holding both sides of the chair’s back.

“Fella by the name of Snider.” Ness said calmly.

“What, that guy? I mean, bum never missed a bet, but he gave me the heebie-jeebies. So I cut him off.” Lester explained.

“Where would you meet him for the payoff?” Ness asked.

Lester sighed, giving Ness a look like he didn’t want to say before Dean started at him threateningly and Alyssa calmly placed a hand on his shoulder.

“T-the Early Bird! It’s a dive on Haggerty. Practically lives in the joint.” Lester quickly spilled.

Ness, Dean, and Alyssa all looked to one another. Dean shrugged while Alyssa patted Lester’s shoulder approvingly, voice sugary sweet,

“Thank you for your cooperation, Lester.”

Lester swallowed nervously, still taking their threats seriously.

 

In the present, Sydney, Sam, and Jody were all scouring through books. Sam’s eyes widened at a page in the book he was working on. He leaned back and sighed unhappily,

“Damn it.”

At the same time Jody exclaimed,

“That’s it!”

Sydney looked up from the book she was intently reading while Sam jumped back forward,

“Okay, yours sounds better. You first.”

“It says here that people could summon Chronos ‘to compel him to tell them their futures.’” Jody read.

“And I’ve got the spell to do it right here.” Sam said almost gloomily.

“So why the ‘damn it’?” Sydney asked, putting her book down.

“’Cause calling Chronos isn’t the problem. It’s making sure we summon him when Ally and Dean are right there…Literally with their hands on the guy, so they can surf him back.” Sam described.

“That’s not automatic?” Jody asked, worried.

“No, it’s more like we need to get the time on their end right to the exact second.” Sam went on.

“Or we get an angry god but no big brother and little sister?” Sydney said with a look of despair.

“And they’re trapped there forever.” Sam said, looking down.

While Sam and Sydney grew more despondent, Jody noticed something in one of the boxes near her. She pulled out a bottle with a note wrapped around it,

“’Fine, you ass. You win for once. Enjoy. R.’”

Sam and Sydney looked over at Jody as she read.

“Who’s ‘R’?” Jody asked the two.

“Rufus, a family friend. Wonder what they were betting over?” Sydney chuckled.

“Well, whatever it was, Rufus sure was a sore loser.” Jody commented as she speculated the bottle further.

Sam and Sydney laughed,

“Yeah.”

“You could say that.”

“It’s weird, huh? It’s like their life’s a big puzzle. You just keep finding pieces of it scattered all over the place. We should drink this. He’d want us to. Am I wrong?” Jody ventured.

“It’d be rude not to.” Sam said trying his best to smile while Sydney gave a watery nod.

 

From inside a dark green Plymouth Roadking, Ness, Dean, and Alyssa were staking out the Early Bird diner. Ness sighed while they all caught sight of Chronos in the diner.

“That’s him.” Alyssa said.

“Kind of puny for a god.” Ness commented while pulling out a flask and taking a drink then handing it off to Dean.

“Thought you were, uh – thought you were Mr. Boy Scout.” Dean commented.

“Hah!” Ness chuckled taking the flask back when Dean didn’t take it.

“If the man who’s supposed to be the driver of the vehicle could not imbibe while I’m supposed to be a passenger, that’d be great.” Alyssa spoke up from the backseat sarcastically.

“Oh right, sorry. Don’t get your knickers in a twist, sweetheart.” Ness said handing the flask to her, who promptly refused.

“To answer your question, Dean. Why do you think I went after Capone in the first place? The guy had the best hooch in Chicago.” Ness smiled, taking his flask back again.

Dean laughed before he asked,

“So, now, w-who died in your life and made you a hunter?”

“Who died? Nobody died, you morbid son of a bitch. I started doing this ‘cause vampires were turning folks in Cleveland.” Ness responded.

“That’s when you got the bug.” Alyssa said.

“That’s when I got the bug. Sometimes you just want to punch through the red tape with a silver bullet. Yeah, hunting sets me free. Isn’t that why you guys hunt?” Ness said taking another swig, much to Alyssa’s annoyance.

“My parents… their families always had been hunters. Did it ‘cause it was the right thing – to protect the people. Been passed down the line for a long time. I hunted ‘cause it’s what I’ve been doing since I was born. Now, I hunt because I don’t want to see any more people die. But I guess that’s not you and Sam’s case? Like Krissy and her dad?” Alyssa asked Dean quietly.

“Yeah…demon killed our mom.” Dean said softly.

“My parents too… ‘S the reason Bobby found me and Sydney…”  Alyssa grew quieter.

“Well, I mean, that’s just how we got into it though. Hunting… I used to do it ‘cause that’s what my family did.” Dean said.

“Hmmm.” Ness hummed.

“But they just seem to keep dying. To tell you the truth, I don’t know why I’m doing much of anything anymore.” Dean said forlorn.

Alyssa silently stared at Dean from behind while Ness made a face,

“Boo-hoo. Cry me a river, ya Nancy. Tell me, are all hunters as soft as you guys in the future? Everybody loses everybody. And then one day, boom. Your number’s up, but at least you’re making a difference. So enjoy it while it lasts, kids, ‘cause hunting’s the only clarity you’re gonna find in this life. And that makes you two luckier than most.”

Alyssa raised her brows in thought while Dean looked at Ness wordlessly. The three then watched as a young attractive blonde woman left the diner, passing in front of their car.

“Hello, nurse.” Ness commented.

Dean nodded in agreement while Alyssa rolled her eyes at the two. Alyssa noticed Chronos now leaving the diner and brought the others’ attention to him,

“Hey.”

They watched as Chronos walked the same direction that the blonde woman did down an alley. They quickly got out of the car and went to the trunk that Ness opened to reveal his stash of weapons.

“Sweet merciful awesome.” Dean commented, looking at the stash appreciatively.

Ness handed off two guns and grabbed one for himself then the three were rushing down the alley themselves. They got to beginning of the alley just as the woman and Chronos got to the end of it. Chronos grabbed for the girl and Ness and Dean raised their guns at Chronos. Alyssa sensing Chronos and the girl’s atmosphere, however, called out to Ness and Dean,

“Wait–”

Chronos and the woman started kissing and Ness and Dean lowered their guns in astonishment and then looked at one another.

“Told you.” Alyssa sighed.

 

They followed the girl out to a little farmhouse outside of town. Ness stopped a passerby for info while Dean and Alyssa waited in the car. When he finished he walked up to the open window on Dean’s side,

“Well, everything’s coming up on us, kids.”

“Talk to me.” Dean said.

“I am.” Ness said looking at Dean funny.

“Future saying.” Alyssa chimed in, Ness nodded.

“The owner of the house, Miss Lila Taylor, age 20, lives alone. You two take the car, head back to Ezra, see what she’s got. I’m gonna stay here and keep my peepers on the sheik and the sheba.”

Dean handed Ness a rifle while Alyssa poked her head from the back,

“You sure you don’t need any back up?”

Ness laughed,

“He needs you more than I do, sweetie.”

Dean got into the driver’s seat while Alyssa went and got into the passenger’s and then they took off.

 

“That’s it?” Dean asked pointing to a stick with a carved point on one end.

“That is a 1,000 year old olive carved by vestal virgins and dipped in the blood of – you don’t want to know. Pulling this together wasn’t easy. You guys owe me, smoothie.” Ezra said to Dean.

“No kidding. Vestal virgins, really?” Alyssa said impressed.

Dean chuckled,

“You can have whatever you want soon as we gank this thing.”

“Yeah, yeah. Take your twig, wise guy.” Ezra shooed the two away.

“Well, now, how’s it work?” Dean asked.

Alyssa raised her brows at Dean with a, “ _Really nigga?”_ expression, while Ezra came around her desk poised with sarcasm and attitude,

“Well… you stick this end in his heart. Miss, he has you for supper. Make sense?”

“Wait, if we – if we kill Chronos… we’re stuck here.” Dean said with a moment of realization.

Ezra chuckled while Alyssa said a little downhearted, thinking about the implications herself,

“You just now realized?”

“Oh, come on. 1944 ain’t so bad.” Ezra tried to give the two a bright side.

“Yeah, I could head over to Europe, punch Hitler in the neck.” Dean said sarcastically while Alyssa looked like it was something she would actually like to do.

“Oh, there’s lots of ways to pass the time, sugar.” Ezra said before pulling Dean into a kiss.

Alyssa’s jaw dropped while her eyebrows nearly flew off her forehead.

“That’s for luck. ‘Cause I’m lucky.” Ezra smiled, wiping the lipstick from Dean’s lips.

“Thanks.” Dean said, still shocked by what happened.

When Ezra looked at Alyssa, Alyssa held her hands out in front of her,

“I’m good. He’s got us both covered.”

Ezra just laughed while Dean turned giving Alyssa a look and wiped his mouth. The two were getting ready to leave when Dean noticed some letters on the counter and picked them up with a smile,

“Back to the Future III. We need to borrow some paper.”

Alyssa eyes widened in understanding,

“Dude! Great idea! You’re a lot smarter than everyone gives you credit for.”

Dean just smiled at the compliment as they started on their new plan.

 

Ness watched the house silently from behind the car parked out front. Suddenly a voice rang from behind him,

“Mr. Ness I presume?”

It was Chronos. He grabbed at the rifle Ness had in his hands and the two fought over it while Chronos calmly continued as if he weren’t in a tussle right then,

“You know, I stopped by the police station to take care of those hunters who rode me here. I heard you took them out of jail. I thought I might see you again.”

Ness head-butted Chronos but it didn’t do much damage and it allowed Chronos to wrest the gun from Ness’ hands. Chronos dropped the gun and started a beeline towards Ness intimidatingly while Ness held up his fists in defense, backing away from him as quickly as he could. Ness threw some punches that landed successfully but it failed to slow Chronos down, who threw some punches back. One punch sent Ness flying through the barn door behind him. Chronos was about to deal with Ness’ limp body as it lay in the doorway of the door he’d been thrown into when Lila called from the house,

“Ethan? There you are. Can’t take the trash out without the trash, silly.”

“Sorry, honey. I don’t know where I left my head. Be right there.” Chronos smiled at Lila.

As soon as she went back inside, Chronos turned back to the barn only to discover that Ness was gone.

Inside the house, Lila was setting the grandfather clock when Chronos came back in.

“Sweetie, I want you to pack a bag.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, you’re always asking me where I go. Come with me tonight.” Chronos said turning off the radio with a serious look.

“Is… is everything okay?” Lila asked, becoming worried by Chronos’ sudden mood change.

“Yeah, everything’s perfect. You’re perfect. I just need you to pack a bag and I’ll explain why on the way, okay?” Chronos started gathering some things.

“But the diner–”

“Forget about them! We’ll call them tomorrow, okay? Just go. Pack.”

Lila gasped when Chronos raised his voice at her but complied with his wishes.

 

Dean and Alyssa were just pulling in front of the currently occupied house that they were using as a base in the future. Dean tapped on the steering wheel excitedly,

“Jackpot.”

The two got out of the car and went up to the house. They noticed an older gentleman reading a newspaper in the living room from one of the windows they passed on their way to the front door. They promptly knocked at the door, waving to the man through the glass when he came to answer it.

“Can I help you, kids?”

“Yes, sir. I am, uh, special agent Costner and this is special agent Jolie with the, uh, department of homeland termite invasion.” Dean said as he and Alyssa briefly flashed their FBI badges at the man.

“Termites?”

“Yes, sir. There’s been an outbreak all over this area, and we just wanted to do an inspection, make sure that the, uh, perimeter’s secure.” Alyssa said sweetly.

“Yes. Yes, of course. Um, you’d both better come in.” The old man said stepping back.

“Okay.” Dean said and the two went inside, immediately heading up the stairs.

The house owner watched after the two with a confused expression as they disappeared upstairs. They went directly to the room that Sam and Sydney were using as a bedroom. Dean flicked the light on, confirming that it was indeed the room. Alyssa stood back, watching as Dean easily lifted and moved the bed and nightstand out of the way, grabbing a pillow off said bed.

“Alright, he-man.” Alyssa commented.

Dean just smirked at her as he went to lay on the floor in the place Sam had set his bedroll up. Trying to recreate what Sam would see laying there in the room. The owner walked into the doorway,

“Is everything okay up here?”

Alyssa jumped and held a hand to her chest silently – since he had come up behind her – while Dean sat up,

“What?! Oh, yeah – no! No, no. Not to worry, because we’re going to install something that will protect this house forever.”

“Yeah.” Alyssa said turning towards him after she finally collected herself, smiling brightly at the man, who in turn nodded, satisfied with their answer and left.

Dean went and laid back down and then noticed a little piece of the molding that ran around the bottom of the room that stood out, across from him. He got up pulling his pocket knife out going to the piece. Alyssa saw what he was doing and went to the wall of the spot he was just at.

“Insurance.” Alyssa commented when Dean looked at her.

 

Jody just came back to the base, coffee and donuts in tow, when she headed into the living room stumbling upon a passed out Sam and Sydney,

“You guys are toast. I’ll keep pushing. You guys go get some shut-eye.”

Sam and Sydney shot up from their sleeping positions,

“Uh, that’s okay–”

“I can, uh…”

“Do I have to use my mom voice?” Jody gave the two a stern look.

The two went into the room and immediately crashed into their little “beds.” Sam tried to get comfortable and turned to the wall behind him. He closed his eyes for a moment before they flashed open, recognizing what he just saw. Etched into the molding was,

“TURN <⁾”

Sam flipped back over and searched the wall on the other side and noticed,

“SAM” etched into a small piece of molding that stuck out from the rest. He turned the traveler’s lamp that was near him on, bringing it with him as he went to wall that said Sam on it. Sydney watched him with tired eyes as he noisily moved about, keeping her from drifting to sleep,

“What are you doing?”

“Look.” Sam said taking his pocket knife out and using it to help pry the molding piece away from the wall.

He pulled a small folded up piece of paper from the little opening. Sydney sat up while Sam unfolded the paper and began to read it.

The two came running down the stairs like a stampede of elephants, back to the living room. Jody stood up from the table beginning to reprimand the two,

“Alright, you asked for it. Children–”

Sam held the paper out in front of Jody’s face who took it from him and began to read the note aloud,

“Sammy – and Sydney – turns out Snider is Chronos. Wait, this is from Dean and Ally? How–”

“Just read!” Sydney said excitedly.

“We rode him to 1944. We’re working with Eliot Ness – yes, that one.” Jody continued looking up at the two who nodded at her triumphantly.

“Tracked down Chronos. He’s banging some chick named Lila Taylor – that’s gross Dean – this must be Ally’s handwriting – and we got a weapon. We’re going after him. Take care of yourself, Sam. You too, Sydney, wish us luck – I love you!” Jody finished giving the two a look.

“Look at the top.” Sam smiled.

“November 5, ’44.” Jody read.

“So, now we know the exact date Ally and Dean had hands on Chronos! All we need is the exact time.” Sydney bounced eagerly.

“Which we get how?” Jody asked.

“Hoping. We ask someone who was there.” Sam said taking the note back while looking at the name, Lila Taylor.

 

“Miss Lila Taylor?” Jody asked, coming to the side of an older woman who stood in front of a TV with a look of consternation while holding a remote.

“Oh, can you get ‘The Sullivan Show’? I want to watch that Frankie Valli.” Lila – the old woman – said, trying to hand the remote to Jody.

Sam and Sydney stood at her other side.

“Um, actually, we’re with the police.” Jody said gently, pulling out her badge and showing Lila.

“Oh. Is Michael in trouble again? I told him not to read those comic books.” Lila began to prattle, gasping when she almost ran into Sam and Sydney on her way back to her seat.

“Uh, no, no, no, no. He’s, uh – he’s fine. We’d wanted to ask you some questions about this man.” Jody said pulling out a printed picture from the news article of Chronos and handed it to Lila.

“Ethan. That’s Ethan.”

“Do you remember the last time you saw Ethan?” Jody asked leaning forward.

“Of course. November 1944 – the night the clocks stopped.” Lila recalled.

“Th-the clocks stopped?” Sam asked.

“11:34. Every clock in the house.” Lila said, a little shaken by the memory.

The three looked at one another before Sydney asked,

“Ma’am, can you tell us anything else you remember?”

“Ethan…said awful things. And then…and then he strangled that poor man all while that poor girl screamed at him to stop.” Lila frowned.

“What poor man?” Sam asked.

“Two policemen and a woman came to arrest Ethan.” Lila clarified.

“Was this the woman?” Sydney asked holding up her phone to Lila with a picture of Alyssa on it.

Lila nodded,

“Yes.”

“Ma’am, was this one of the men?” Sam asked holding up one of Dean’s fake I.D.s.

Lila sighed in affirmation,

“Ethan choked the life out of that man. That woman screamed and screamed and tried to pull him off but Ethan wouldn’t stop.”

Sam, Sydney, and Jody all looked at one another with wide eyes.

 

Dean and Alyssa moved silently across the field to Lila’s farmhouse, guns drawn. They reached the car parked in front of the house and ducked behind it – glancing over it, looking at the house. Alyssa looked around while Dean called out quietly,

“Ness! Ness!”

Alyssa grabbed Dean, pulling him with her when she noticed the blown out barn door. Dean pulled out a flashlight and the two investigated – looking for any sign of Ness still in the barn where there was none.

The two slowly crept up onto the porch, peeking into the windows, before picking open the front door. They continued their silent entry into the house – looking around – heading into the living room. They saw someone walking around on the other side of a closed door. Dean went to pull out the special weapon for Chronos when both he and Alyssa were shoved into each other as they were tackled to the ground by Chronos. Alyssa rolled away as Dean and Chronos stood, grabbing at each other, both throwing a punch – Chronos’ being the more successful of the two. Chronos went to hit Dean again, who had fallen to the ground from the previous punch, when Lila called out in a panicked voice behind him,

“Ethan!”

Chronos stopped with his fist raised and turned to see what was going on.

“Let’s talk.” Ness said holding Lila hostage with a gun to her side.

Alyssa stood, pointing her gun and cocking it at Chronos.

 

Sam, Sydney, and Jody raced back into the base and began to hastily set up everything for the summoning spell on the table in the living room. Sam set an infinite hourglass into a metal bowl and instructed,

“Here, break this.”

Jody threw a cloth over the bowl while Sydney proceeded to smash the hourglass through the cloth with a hammer.

 

“Please don’t hurt her.” Chronos stood facing Ness, raising his hands in surrender.

“Ethan, what’s happening?” Lila asked, scared.

“Yeah, Ethan. What the hell?” Dean complained, slowly rising to his feet.

“Lila, I’m sorry, but, you just – everything I said to you is true–” Chronos began.

“Oh, he might have left out a few details. He tell you he’s a monster who jumps through time?” Dean wiped at his mouth.

“I’m a god!” Chronos yelled at Dean.

He turned back to Lila and Ness,

“Look, I’m not a monster. Listen, I’m the opposite.”

“Well, don’t forget to tell her about all the people you murdered along the way, Boy Scout.” Ness told Lila.

“Men, all the same, am I right? Human or god. Can’t ever seem to not lie through their teeth or stop themselves from leaving out all the important details.” Alyssa scoffed, keeping her aim at Chronos steady.

“What?” Lila said, confused.

“It’s not like that. I do it for you, Lila.” Chronos said.

“I don’t understand.” Lila teared up.

 

Sydney placed the paper with the ritual on it on the table. The three were throwing all the stuff the ritual needed into the bowl. Sam got his pocket knife out, cut his hand, then used the blood to write, “11:34,” on a piece of parchment.

 

“Well, he’s not as strong as he used to be. Isn’t that right, Ethan? Now you got to suck people dry. Wild guess – it takes three kills to juice you up.” Dean said.

“Sacrifices. Three sacrifices and I can control when and where I land. But once I get there, it’s never for long before I’m tossed through time again. That’s my life, Lila. And all I want is to get back here.” Chronos explained while Lila sniffled in Ness’ arms.

“Because you just love the clean Canton air?” Alyssa patronized Chronos.

“Because I love her! Because I lived the worst existence you can imagine, and then I found you.” Chronos yelled while Lila began to cry.

“After you killed Tyler Crosby and Cathy Porter? Lila here was gonna be victim number three. Am I right? Don’t act like you never killed a soul before you met her, pal. Something tells me you used to kill three saps just for a change of scenery.” Ness described.

“Yes, I did–”

“Back down.” Ness backed up with Lila when Chronos took a step towards them.

“I- I used to wander, but now I have you.” Chronos said pitifully.

“I knew Cathy. She used to come into the diner every day.” Lila cried.

“Lila, please.” Chronos shook his head.

“You **are** a monster.” Lila sobbed while Dean snuck up behind Chronos, pulling out the olive stick.

“No, Lila, please!” Chronos begged, when he saw Lila look behind him, he turned and grabbed Dean just before he had a chance to stab him.

“Shit!” Alyssa cursed then shot at Chronos, hitting him in the side.

Chronos grabbed Dean by the throat and forced him to the ground. Ness let Lila go and shot at Chronos’ back but to no avail. Chronos choked Dean, completely unaffected even after being shot. When Alyssa realized this, she screamed at Chronos while jumping onto his back trying to wrestle him off of Dean,

“Let him go! Let him go! LET HIM GO!”

 

“O khrone parakaloumen se thespizein hemin khronon ton mellonta.” Sam read the ritual while Sydney lit the ingredients in the bowl on fire.

 

Suddenly Chronos began to light up red. When he saw this happening he screamed out,

“No!”

He stopped choking Dean to then move him into a similar hostage situation position like Ness had had Lila earlier while Alyssa continued to cling onto Chronos’ back. Suddenly the clocks all stopped. Ness swiftly went and picked up the olive branch weapon.

“Hey, untouchable!” Ness yelled before tossing it to Dean.

The three suddenly disappeared in a big violent flash of red lights.

 

All three suddenly appeared – crashing into the living room of the abandoned house in that flash of red – before Sam, Sydney, and Jody. The weapon flew out of Dean’s hand to slide across the floor as the trio fell backwards, Alyssa facing the brunt of the fall with the two men landing on top of her.

“Dean!” Jody called out while Sydney yelled at the same time,

“Ally!”

The women raced for the two as they lie on the floor. Chronos stood, getting away from the two while Sam went to confront him.

“Hey!” Sam said trying to throw a punch at Chronos, who caught it and threw Sam away across the room from him.

“NO!” Chronos shouted.

He turned to Dean and Alyssa as Jody and Sydney tried helping them up,

“You! You two destroyed everything!”

When Chronos went for them, Sam yelled from behind him,

“Hey, Chronos!?”

When Chronos turned to face Sam, Sam stabbed him in the heart with the olive branch.

“Was that the best you got?” Sam said shoving onto the branch harder.

Chronos fell to his knees – gasping in pain, blood running from his mouth – before chuckling evilly,

“You want to know your future? I know your future. It’s covered in thick black ooze. It’s everywhere. They’re everywhere. Enjoy oblivion.”

Chronos laughed in their faces before gagging on his own blood and collapsing, falling dead to the floor.

Sam, Dean, Alyssa, and Sydney all looked at each other, terrified for what was to come.


	4. The Slice Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follows along with season 7 episode 13 - The Slice Girls

Sam sighed heavily as he drove through the night. Dean sat beside him snoring, leaning against the passenger’s side window. Alyssa looked up from her laptop reading from one of the newer books she had chronicled from Bobby’s stash while Sydney sat beside her, playing on her new phone.

“Whenever you need me to take over just let me know.” Alyssa smirked at Sam in the rearview.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Sam mumbled.

Dean jerked awake, sitting himself upright in the seat groggily. Sam glanced his way while Sydney and Alyssa looked at him sideways.

“Morning.” Sam told Dean, as Dean wiped at his mouth.

“Hey.” Dean barely spoke above a whisper as he rooted around in his jacket pocket for something.

Sam looked back over when Dean pulled out a leather-bound flask, shaking it to see if it had anything left before opening it and taking a swig.

“Was that Bobby’s? I didn’t know you kept that.”

“Yeah, mine sprung a leak.” Dean said screwing the lid back onto the flask.

“You know, most people would just carry a – a photo or something for a memento.” Sam said poking fun at his brother.

“Shut up, man. I’m – I’m honoring the guy. Alright?” Dean said defensively.

“Besides, we’re not exactly most people, Sam. Hell, if I had seen it first, I’d have taken it myself.” Alyssa said.

“Back off, short stop. This is mine now.” Dean said over his shoulder, holding the flask up.

“I really will take it, now that you’ve said that.” Alyssa said leaning forward, reaching for the flask threateningly.

Dean popped her hand lightly and she swiftly thumped his ear in retaliation before quickly sitting back into her seat properly – out of his reach. Dean held his ear, looking a bit scandalized as he looked back at Alyssa before continuing to Sam,

“ **Anyhow** – this is – uh – grief therapy. Y’know, kind of like you and your wild goose chase.”

“Wild goose chase?” Sam said, a little offended.

“Yeah.” Dean confirmed.

“Four guys murdered in two weeks, hands and feet cut off.” Sam said, not believing his brother’s reaction.

“Well, some guy with a foot fetish run amuck.” Dean smirked.

Sydney shuddered,

“Ugh gross. I’ve known a couple of those.”

“My stomach was making the rumblies that only hands could satisfy.” Alyssa quoted with small smile.

Sydney laughed, understanding the reference, while Sam and Dean turned, giving Alyssa a weird look with eyebrows furrowed.

“Llamas with hats….? No? That’s okay, I – I’ll show you later.” Alyssa said, disappointed that they didn’t get her joke.

Dean turned and looked at Sam with raised eyebrows before turning back around while Sam just shook his head and turned back around before continuing with his spiel to Dean,

“Grown men thrown so hard they went through walls. Did you – did you even read the article?”

Sam dug through his bag next to him pulling out a newspaper and shoved it at Dean.

“No, I was napping.” Dean frowned at Sam, opening the newspaper to read it.

Sydney and Alyssa snickered from the back, watching on in amusement.

“Well, anyway…what else you got going on? Dick Roman’s a dead end for now. We might as well...” Sam continued.

“Stay busy.” Dean and Sam both said at the same time.

“Exactly.” Sam said.

“Yeah.” Dean said looking back at the paper.

 

The group was dressed up in their FBI getups at the morgue of the town the murders were happening in. The coroner opened up the slab with one of the victims on it. They all looked over the body, a man with his hands and feet missing and a symbol carved into his chest.

“The latest but probably not the last.” The coroner commented looking down at the body.

The coroner looked back up to the group of four and asked,

“You guys always work this late?”

“Ugh, hours suck.” Dean sighed.

“Yeah, but great benefits package.” Sydney smiled.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, 10% co-pay on all drugs.” Alyssa smirked at the coroner.

“Seriously? Oh, but just generic, right?”

“No, no, name brands are cool.” Dean said with a friendly smile.

“Huh.” The coroner looked contemplative.

“Yeah.” Sydney and Alyssa said continuing in with the act of friendly chit chat.

Sam gave the other three a, “ _Oh my fucking God, guys, enough_ ” look before clearing his throat, gaining the coroner’s attention,

“So…what’s our boy here weigh?”

The coroner sighed, looking back down at the victim,

“A buck 90. Thrown against a wall so hard it buckled. Based on the blood flow at the crime scene, the hands and feet were cut off while he was still alive, just like the others. The killer wanted him to suffer.”

“Tasty.” Alyssa commented – to which Sam gave her a look while the coroner smiled slightly at her attempt at humor over the current situation.

“And all the vics were male, right? With the, uh, same kind of artwork as this?” Dean asked.

“Yeah. Identical.”

“So, uh, DNA left at any of the scenes?” Sydney asked while Sam took pictures of the symbol carved into the victim’s chest.

“All of them. One before this, the guy **bit** the attacker. Still had a chunk of flesh in his teeth when he came in. That’s about as good as it gets.” The coroner told them as he put the slab back.

When Alyssa went to make another comment when the coroner mentioned flesh being stuck in the victim’s teeth, Sam stared her down to keep her from doing so. She tucked her lips into a flat lined smile while she looked at him innocently.

“So, we have a match?” Alyssa asked the coroner, giving Sam the bird when the coroner turned away from the four of them to go to his computer.

“We do not. Samples were rejected. The genetic markers don’t match anything we’ve ever seen.” The coroner tapped at his computer, showing them the results.

“Didn’t match any person in the database?” Dean asked.

“No. I mean, they don’t match anything human.” The coroner said looking at the group.

They all looked back at him in surprise.

 

“I’ll admit, it could be in the general vicinity of the ballpark of our kind of thing.” Dean said as the four of them were leaving the building.

“’Could be’?” Alyssa gave Dean a chastising look.

“Yeah, uh, ‘didn’t match anything human’ usually seals the deal for me.” Sydney said in agreement with her sister.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen this symbol before.” Sam said looking at the pictures he took on his phone before stopping and putting it away.

The rest of the group stopped with him, turning to him.

“Let’s get a bite to eat – go back to the motel, haul out the laptops.”

“That’s a great idea. Actually, that’s a brilliant idea. Here’s my counter. You guys do that, I’ll go undercover, go mingle amongst the locals, and see what kind of clues bubble to the surface.”  Dean tried to convince the rest of the group.

Sam, Sydney, and Alyssa all looked at him with varying looks of suspicion seeing right through his façade.

“You’re going to a bar.” Alyssa said bluntly, eyes narrowed.

“Wow.” Dean looked mock-hurt at the accusation.

“If you want to oversimplify it.” He rebutted when they continued to stare at him.

“I wanna go too! Mama hasn’t gotten it in in a while.” Sydney said wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

“No way, you’ll ruin my mojo.” Dean argued.

“Will not. You stay out of my way, I’ll stay out of yours. It’ll be fine.” Sydney persuaded.

“Fine. But you seriously better stay out of my way.” Dean said giving in.

“Great! Let’s go, Lyssa.” Sydney cheered, linking arms with her sister.

“What? No! Why?!” Alyssa said in despair.

“Yeah! I thought you said it was just gonna be you. This ain’t no group field trip.” Dean complained.

“Because! She’s the best wingman! She knows exactly my types and I always get a hook up so quickly when she helps me.” Sydney explained.

“But I don’t wanna go. Plus I know you’re gonna bring whoever back to our room.” Alyssa whined.

“C’mon, Lyssa, pleeeeease!” Sydney begged.

Alyssa made frustrated complaining noises and stomped dramatically before saying in defeat,

“Fine, but only if Sam comes too.”

“What? Why are you dragging me into this?” Sam said incredulously.

“It will literally take 5 minutes, if that, and we can leave to get something to eat and go back to the motel, I promise.” Alyssa said, now becoming the begging one.

“Yeah, yeah! I’m telling you, she’s really good. Please Sam?” Sydney came up to him, giving him puppy dog eyes.

Sam sighed,

“Alright, alright. Let’s go.”

“Yay!” Sydney cheered and the four left for a bar.

 

They arrived at some bar called the ‘Cobalt Room’. Dean took off ahead, ditching the rest of the group – already on the hunt – while Alyssa stopped Sydney before they could continue further into the room. She grabbed Sydney, making her lean down so she could reach her hair. She took Sydney’s hair out of its bun and fixed it, so it was loose and down, tousled sexily. Alyssa then took Sydney’s suit jacket handing it off to Sam and proceeded to unbutton some of Sydney’s blouse buttons, showing off Sydney’s cleavage. When she was finished looking Sydney over, Alyssa pushed her sister towards the room saying,

“Alright, go find a table.”

“Thankies! You’re the best sister ever.” Sydney giggled as she walked away, finding an open table to sit at.

Alyssa scanned the crowded room as Sam watched on in curiosity. Alyssa finally spotted the perfect guy sitting at the bar who was both suited to her sister’s tastes and looked to be free and open. She grabbed Sam’s hand, dragging him with her to the bar. She flagged the bartender down and ordered a beer and a hard cider both on tap.

“I thought you said this was going to be quick. Why are you ordering us drinks?” Sam frowned at the short girl.

“They’re not for us. Just watch and learn, young padawan.” Alyssa chided the taller man as she grabbed the drinks heading for her target. She gave the cider to Sam to hold, having him wait a little ways away from her, as she carried the beer to the intended person.

She saddled up to the open seat next to the man, drawing his attention to her. He looked her up and down appreciatively, to which Alyssa inwardly groaned but smiled professionally on the outside at him.

“Hey there, see my friend over there –” she pointed to Sydney’s table who waved when she saw Alyssa pointing at her and the man looking at her,

“She wanted me to give this to you. Wanted to know if you’d like to have a drink with her.” Alyssa held the beer up to him.

The man smirked, taking the beer,

“Sure.”

“Great! I’ll introduce you! Follow me!” Alyssa turned and headed for Sydney’s table.

When Alyssa passed Sam as the man followed her, she gave him raised brows and a smirk before grabbing the cider from him as she went.

When she got to Sydney’s table, she handed Sydney the cider and turned to the man,

“This is Sydney, Sydney this is….”

“Jason.” The man answered when Alyssa looked at him.

“Sydney this is Jason. Alright, well you two have fun. Good night.” Alyssa said before leaving the two.

When Alyssa walked back over to Sam, he gave her an impressed look,

“You really did mean 5 minutes, after all.”

“I wasn’t lying. Alright, so now we can leave and grab some grub. Oh, and if it’s alright with you, I’ll be bunking with you instead tonight. Otherwise I’m getting a new room. She always brings them back to the room and usually isn’t sober enough to care that I’m right there in the same room.” Alyssa looked like she was traumatized as she thought back.

“Oh God. Yeah, no problem. That’s fine with me. I’m sure Dean will be going home with whoever anyway. But I’ll text him just in case.” Sam said pulling his phone out.

“You’re a life saver. Thanks, Sam. Now let’s get out of here.” Alyssa grabbed his arm, dragging him out with her.

 

Meanwhile Dean had already found his prey. The two sat at a table on the other side of the room from Sydney and her “friend.”

“Dinner and a movie. Which sounded fine… except the movie was ‘Human Centipede’.” The woman told Dean as she took a drink of her martini.

Dean chuckled,

“Well, so, wait. Uh, so you had a problem with that?”

“The date from hell.”

“Dating, right? Ugh.” Dean sympathized, shaking his head while taking a drink of whiskey.

“But what’s the option? I don’t see settling down anytime soon.” The woman said looking at Dean.

“Well, that’s something you don’t hear every day.” Dean raised his brows in surprise.

The woman laughed,

“Oh, what? Are you ready for the big commit?”

“Me? Not exactly.” Dean smiled.

The woman smiled, eyeing him up and down,

“Nice suit, by the way. Guys don’t dress up much. I like it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s, uh, a conservative line of work.” Dean said finishing his drink.

“What line is that?”

“Investment banking.” Dean handed his empty glass off to the waitress who handed him another whiskey, thanking her in return.

“Oh, God. I hear the hours are ridic.” The woman said stirring her new martini.

“Yeah.”

“But there’s money to be made.” She gave him a lusty stare.

“I’ve had a fortunate year.” Dean said smiling at her, returning her gaze.

“Well…may you have many more.” She held up her glass to him.

Dean clinked his glass with hers,

“Arigatou.”

She chuckled,

“You speak Japanese?”

“Ah, enough to get by.” Dean said taking a drink.

“Well…look at you.” She said after taking a drink of her own.

“Yeah, look at me. So…” Dean looked up at the woman.

“You want to move this conversation elsewhere?” She asked smiling at him slyly.

 

The next morning the four were heading to a crime scene. Dean grunted while the four walked towards the group of police cars surrounding an apartment building.

“You look like crap.” Sam commented with a smug grin.

“Yeah, well, I feel worse than I look. I do recommend the Cobalt Room, by the way. Awesome night. Although I think I’m getting too old for this.” Dean said.

“Not me. I feel great. Had a great night too. Sydney’s officially back in business.” Sydney laughed triumphantly.

Alyssa rolled her eyes and gave the two a disgusted face,

“Gross.”

“Yes, you keep thinking that. Think that and stay my pure little innocent Virgin Mary forever and ever.” Sydney took Alyssa into her arms while petting her head.

“She – WHAT?!” Sam and Dean both practically yelled.

Alyssa pushed away from Sydney and gave Sam and Dean a dirty look. They looked apologetic before Sam said much quieter,

“Sorry, but what did she mean by that? Virgin Mary what?”

Alyssa blushed a little in embarrassment, becoming defensive,

“Yeah, I’m a virgin. So what? What’s it to you?”

“Nothing, nothing. It’s just – I’m surprised. You don’t look like the type…” Dean said, throwing his hands up in defense.

“So you’re saying I look like I’m the promiscuous type.” Alyssa crossed her arms over her chest.

“What?! No! No! I’m not saying that at all! Sam, help me out here.” Dean said becoming flustered.

“What he’s saying is that, uh, well, uh, you’re – you’re too attractive to be a virgin.” Sam said, also becoming flustered.

Alyssa smirked, laughing at them,

“I know, I was just busting your chops. Calm down. And it’s not that I can’t, it’s because I don’t want. Trust me, I’ve had plenty of offers. I just haven’t found the right one, y’know?”

“And you never will because no one will ever be good enough for my precious Lyssa.” Sydney said hugging Alyssa to her again.

Alyssa pushed Sydney away again, annoyed,

“ **Anyway…** ”

“Right, so did you guys, uh, figure out that symbol?” Dean asked Sam and Alyssa.

“No. Um, we’re gonna need an expert.” Sam said pulling out his badge along with everyone else as they neared one of the policeman standing guard.

“Expert? Our expert’s dead.” Sydney said.

They entered the room of the apartment the crime scene had taken place. Another man laid in the middle of the room, dead, the same as all the other victims. Hands and feet missing with a symbol carved into his chest. The coroner squatted over the body talking with a female detective who also squatted over the body. Blood decorated the room everywhere.

“Nice décor. Very early slaughterhouse.” Alyssa said looking around as the four of them walked up to the coroner and detective.

They both looked up at the group, the coroner telling the detective,

“FBI.”

“Guys, this is Charlene Penn. She’s the lead on the case.” The coroner said introducing the woman.

“More of the same. Uh, no forced entry. Thrown across the room. Made to suffer. Both hands and feet cut off.”

“Same symbol on the chest.” Sam looked at the body.

“Mm. Whoever the killer is, the guy’s a monster.” The coroner said looking back at the body as well.

“Excuse me.” Charlene said before moving to another part of the apartment.

“This guy’s just like the last one. Early 30’s, decent-looking?” Dean said.

“Yeah. Just like the first three, you know? Fairly successful, no known enemies.” The coroner said.

“Hmm.” Sydney hummed.

“Here.” The coroner said leading Dean and Sydney off to a different part of the apartment while Sam and Alyssa noticed a man standing at the open door of the apartment talking to a policeman.

“Excuse me. We got it.” Sam said as he and Alyssa walked up to the policeman.

“How can we help you?” Alyssa asked the man when the policeman left.

“I was just trying to find out what happened. Jerry was a friend.” The man said.

“I’m very sorry. Jerry was killed sometime last night.” Sam told the man empathetically.

“Do you live nearby?” Alyssa asked.

“Yeah. Two doors down.”

“You, uh, you know anyone who would want to harm Jerry?” Sam asked.

“No. He was the nicest guy in the world. Well, his – his wife wasn’t real happy with him.”

“Why’s that?” Alyssa asked.

“A few nights ago, he has a little one night fling. Ann found out, took off. But… she would never do anything like...”

“Yeah. Of course. Thanks.” Sam said.

“Good for her, though. Cheating’s cheating.” Alyssa frowned as the neighbor left.

The four met back up, walking away from the rest of the crowd to talk.

“Who was that?” Sydney asked.

“Neighbor. Said the vic’s wife caught him cheating.” Sam said.

“Yeah, but we’re not thinking it’s the wife.” Dean said.

“Not unless she benches 350 and did the other guys as a warm up.” Alyssa said.

“Shoot.” Dean said feeling at his jacket.

When the rest gave him a look he said,

“I left Bobby’s flask over at Lydia’s.”

“Lydia?” Sam asked.

“My workout partner from last night. Now I’ve got to go get it.” Dean smiled.

Alyssa gave him a disgusted look before saying,

“You sure you don’t want me to have the flask instead? I wouldn’t just leave it like that.”

“No way.” Dean said sliding open his phone.

“So not only do you know her name. You’re actually gonna call her?” Sam asked looking quite amused.

“Bite me.” Dean said going through his phone.

“Sweet – she gave you her number.” Sydney said looking down at Dean’s phone.

“They always give you their number.” Dean smirked.

Alyssa rolled her eyes and even Sydney gave him a look,

“Not always, bucko.”

He dialed Lydia’s number and she answered,

“ _Hello?_ ”

“Lydia. Hey, it’s, uh, Dean from last night.”

“ _Uh-huh._ ”

“Uh, listen, I think I left something over at your place. It was an old flask. It doesn’t look like much, but it has sentimental value. So, uh, have you seen it?”

“ _No. But if I do, I’ll call._ ”

“You want my number?”

“ _My cell grabbed it. Uh…sorry. I gotta go. Just real busy at the moment._ ”

“Oh.” Dean said before she suddenly hung up on him.

Sam, Sydney, and Alyssa all watched him from the side, entertained. He turned back to them holding his phone up,

“She’s **real** busy.”

Sam smirked but stayed silent while Sydney and Alyssa snickered,

“What’d we say?”

“Looks like her night wasn’t as great.”

The three walked off amused ahead of Dean while he looked down at his phone.

 

“Fascinating. Truly. And actually, rather accomplished draftsmanship.” A man said looking over a picture of the symbol that was being carved into all the men’s chests.

“Yeah, if you get past the fact that it was carved into a guy’s body.” Dean came to sit in one of the chairs next to the rest of his group.

“Professor Morrison, we’re hoping you can tell us what the symbol means.” Sam said imploringly.

“Yeah, maybe.”

The group looked around at one another.

“Maybe?” Sydney asked.

“It’s possible I could, even likely. Is the FBI offering suitable remuneration?” The professor asked.

Sydney and Dean looked to Sam and Alyssa confused. Alyssa gave the two a look before answering the professor with a charming smile,

“The respect of a grateful nation.”

“And a good word with the I.R.S.” Dean chimed in, giving the professor a smile, having figured out what ‘remuneration’ meant from Alyssa’s answer.

“Ah. Well, it appears quite ancient.” The professor said looking back down at the picture.

“Well, that narrows it down.” Sydney said before giving the group a look that the professor couldn’t see.

“A corrupted version of symbology associated with worship. Definitely an obscure regional script. Oh, this will require some research.” The professor said becoming excited.

“Alright, great. Well, uh, I guess we’ll be seeing you tomorrow.” Sam said as they all stood.

“Tomorrow?!” The professor’s eyes bulged and he laughed,

“I’ve spent entire sabbaticals on a project like this.”

“Professor! We have a serial killer on our hands.” Alyssa said becoming serious.

“Your government needs you, sir.” Sydney said, equally as serious.

“Gentlemen, ladies, my housekeeper needs a green card.” The professor sighed, looking at the group.

 

“Good God, where’d you find this guy?” Dean asked Sam and Alyssa as the four left the professor’s office.

“He’s supposed to be a top expert in his field.” Sam said.

“Yeah, well, when his field includes things that go bump in the night, he’s gonna be worth the breath we just wasted.” Sydney said.

“So, what are we supposed to do, guys? Spin our wheels?” Alyssa asked.

“Ally, this **is** us spinning our wheels, okay?!” Dean said getting riled up.

“Dean, you know what? We want to call him, too, okay? Believe me. But Bobby’s not here. So we’re settling.” Sam said turning on Dean, coming to Alyssa’s defense.

“Yeah. We sure are.” Sydney sighed.

“Damn it, why hasn’t she called?” Dean looked down at his phone.

“Who? Lydia?” Alyssa asked.

Sam scoffed in amusement,

“Wait, so some girl’s actually dumping **you** the morning after?”

“You mean that doesn’t happen often?” Sydney smirked.

“I think you guys are enjoying this a little more than you need to. Screw it. I’m going over there and getting the flask.” Dean said taking off.

Alyssa called after him,

“If you don’t bring it back, I’m kicking your ass. Then I’m going to go over to this chick’s house to get it myself and I’ll kick her ass too while I’m at it.”

Dean just waved her off as he walked down the hall.

 

Dean rang the door to Lydia’s house. When she opened the door, seeing Dean there, she looked taken-aback,

“Don.”

“Dean.” Dean said, a little speechless for a few seconds,

“I guess you didn’t get my messages.”

“No, I did. I’ve been busy.” Lydia said looking around behind Dean, like she wasn’t all that interested.

“Oh. Anyway, I, uh, left that flask over here the other night.”

“Yes, I found it. It was so beat up and old, I almost tossed it.” Lydia said looking outside behind Dean again.

“Yeah, well, guy it belonged to was beat up and old, too. But I was very close with him, and I’d, uh, I’d hate to lose it. Besides, I’ve also already been threatened by his daughter if I don’t get it back.” Dean smiled.

“I’ll get it for you.” Lydia said after a moment’s hesitation – she turned keeping the door open.

Dean followed her in,

“So, how you been? Other than ‘busy’.”

“Just that. Really busy. Here you go.” Lydia said pulling the flask from a drawer and handed it to Dean.

“Oh, wow. I can see why you’re busy. You’ve been babysitting, huh?” Dean said noticing the baby in the crib in the other room behind Lydia.

“No.”

“Yours?” Dean asked surprised, going towards the tyke.

“Uh-huh.” Lydia said following Dean.

“You didn’t tell me you had a little girl.” Dean smiled, walking up to the baby.

“There’s probably all kinds of things we didn’t tell each other.” Lydia said.

“What’s her name?” Dean asked.

“Emma.”

“Hi, Emma. Your first?” Dean asked Lydia.

“Yes.” Lydia held onto her locket, starting to give Dean a bit of an aggressive look.

“Well, I hear they grow like weeds.”

“You have no idea.” Lydia looked at Emma while still holding her locket.

“Oh. Sorry. I got to take this.” Dean said when his cell phone rang.

He walked into the other room and answered his phone,

“Hello.”

“ _Mm. Hey. Where are you? It’s a flask, not the holy grail._ ” Sam’s voice came over the phone.

“Hey, man, I’m a people person, alright? I’m engaging in some social skills. You get anything out of Morrison?”

“ _No. Not yet. Look, would you get back here? We’re due at the crime lab. Dean?_ ”

“Hang on.” Dean said peeking back into the other room when he heard something peculiar.

“ _Hey, look, why don’t you just..._ ”

“Who’s that in the other room?” A small voice asked.

Lydia shushed at Emma.

“Who is that?” The voice asked again.

“ _You there?_ ”

“Don’t talk. We’ll discuss it later.” Lydia told Emma.

“ _Hello!_ ”

“Let me call you back.” Dean said bringing the phone back up to his ear before hanging up quickly, looking shell-shocked by what he just saw.

 

Alyssa, Sam, and Sydney all went to the crime lab without Dean. They all stood around another body on an autopsy table.

“So, again, we got a guy weighing about two bills…Thrown into a wall so hard, he’s got pieces of plaster lodged in his skull.” The coroner told the trio as they walked to another part of the lab.

The detective, Charlene, walked up to them, asking,

“What triggered the feds’ involvement in this case? I always think you guys have bigger fish to fry.”

“No. Actually, we…” Sam began.

“I just figured it was the similarity to the other cold cases? If it’s the same killer, then he crossed state lines – that would bring **you** guys in.” The coroner said.

Alyssa smiled at the coroner genuinely – who smiled back shyly – appreciating his save,

“Well, that’s exactly right.”

“Uh, what he said.” Sydney said smiling at the detective.

“Yeah. Whatever. You’re gonna have to wrap this up. Your case isn’t the only one we’re working on.” Charlene said with an attitude before walking off.

Sam, Sydney, and the coroner all gave each other a look while Alyssa looked like she was about to go after the detective and give her fisticuffs. Sydney patted her sister’s shoulder soothingly to calm her.

“You get used to her.” The coroner said sympathetically.

“Uh, so, Eddie, by the way, we didn’t bring the cold-case files with us. Is there a chance you have a copy?” Sam asked Eddie, the coroner.

“Yeah.” Eddie said going through his files.

“Great.”

Alyssa noticed one of the pieces of evidence and picked it up, reading it,

“The Cobalt Room.”

“Mm! Yeah, it’s pretty well known. Looking to hook up, it’s a pretty good place to go.” Eddie said coming back to the trio with a file, smiling.

“I’ve heard.” Sam said.

“I know.” Sydney smiled.

Alyssa just rolled her eyes as she opened the file the coroner handed her.

“Vic number two was there. And according to his security guard, he left with a hot girl. Two days later, he’s an obituary.” Eddie said.

“Same with Jerry Price.” Alyssa said looking at the file.

“Mm-hmm. And, uh, as far as we can tell, at least a couple of those in there.” Eddie said pointing to the file.

“Same thing in Chicago.” Sydney said looking over Alyssa’s shoulder.

“Yep. A lot of busted marriages, flings with unknown women, that kind of thing. All just before they got offed.” Eddie said.

“Thanks.” Sam said looking up at him from looking over Alyssa’s other shoulder.

 

Dean was scoping Lydia’s place out from afar in a ’71 Buick Rivera as a car pulled up in front of it with three women in pantsuits in it. Two of the women got out while the driver stayed in the car. Lydia answered the door and then let them in as Dean watched on. Suddenly Dean’s phone rang, he quickly answered it,

“Yeah?”

“ _Dude, you never showed._ ” Sam’s voice answered.

“I’m outside Lydia’s.”

“ _Oh come on, man. What are you – what are you obsessed or something?_ ” Sam said in disbelief.

“ _He still at Lydia’s?_ ” Dean could faintly hear Alyssa’s voice ask from the background.

“I’m telling you, I have been eating at the buffet of strange all afternoon.” Dean said looking at Lydia’s house a little harder.

“ _Meaning what?_ ”

“I’ll tell you the second I know. Something ain’t right.” Dean frowned.

“ _Or you’re obsessed._ ” Sam said with amusement thick in his voice.

“Shut up, I’m serious.” Dean still frowned.

“ _Okay – uh, uh – do you need backup?_ ” Sam said becoming more serious.

“No, not yet. What’s up on your guys’ end?”

“ _Apparently there was an identical murder-fest two years ago in Chicago and again in Miami two years before that. All the victims were young, successful, a lot of them went to the same bar. It lines up. Trails always went cold fast._ ”

“Yeah?”

“ _Yeah. Oh and by the way, as a personal kicker, here, at least some of the vics hooked up in that bar you and Sydney went to – the uh – the Cobalt Room. So just saying, man, you dodged a bullet._ ”

“ _Thank God, I’m not a man!_ ” Dean could hear Sydney laugh from the background.

Lydia’s front door opened right then, revealing the women to be leaving.

“Gotta go.” Dean said quickly before hanging up.

He put his phone down and picked up a pair of binoculars, looking out of them. Lydia came to the door herself and called behind her,

“Come on, Emma. Time to go.”       

A young girl of about 5 or 6 years old came running out the door. Lydia kneeled in front of the girl, putting her locket around the girl’s neck, while she spoke to her. When Lydia finished she handed the girl off to the women and they got into the car and drove away.

Dean started his car,

“I hate when this happens.”

And began to trail the car.

He followed them ‘til they reached an alley. Dean watched as the women and little girl entered a building.

 

“So what?” Sam said incredulously behind Dean as Dean opened their motel room, turning the light on as he entered. Alyssa and Sydney trailed behind them silently.

“I mean, so maybe she has another kid she didn’t tell you about.” Sam continued.

“Nope, just the one.” Dean held up one finger,

“Emma. But that night, when I was with her, she didn’t have **any**. And I was at her place, man. There was no playpens, no blankets, no rubber ducks.”

“Right. Like you would have been focused on that kind of thing.” Sam smirked.

Alyssa grimaced and shook her head while Sydney just snickered.

“Hey, dude, that’s the **first** thing you notice. Red flags.” Dean said.

“Guess Sam’s saying he’s too busy to notice those type of things.” Sydney laughed while Sam’s face reddened.

“I typically don’t consider baby stuff as red flags. I’m usually on the lookout for creepy murder-y things. **Those** are red flags.” Alyssa said.

“How would look for anything like that if you’ve never had sex?” Sam asked.

“Just because I’ve never had sex doesn’t mean I haven’t been to guys’ houses before, you dense donut.” Alyssa gave Sam a look like he was stupid.

Sydney just laughed harder while Dean went and grabbed some beers from the fridge. Sydney sobered up enough to ask Alyssa,

“Speaking of guys and their houses – what did the coroner want when he pulled you off to the side, Lyssa?”

Alyssa ignored her sister’s wriggling eyebrows,

“None of your bees wax.”

“Oh ho! I take it he asked you on a date then! Well, what’d you say? Huh, huh?” Sydney asked siding up to her sister.

Alyssa was silent a few moments, cheeks heating up as all eyes were on her, before she answered softly,

“I said no, of course.”

“Awww, why? I thought he was cute!” Sydney pouted.

“I didn’t say he wasn’t. He is cute… and he seems really nice too… But what does that matter? Not like I can actually date him or anything. What would the point be? As soon as this case is over we’ll be leaving to some other part of the country. I’m not you guys – I wouldn’t – couldn’t – just sleep with him…” Alyssa said, looking downtrodden.

“Point is… you’d go out and have a good time. Enjoy the attentions of a guy who finds you mutually attractive for an evening. One date wouldn’t hurt, would it? And no one is expecting you to sleep with anyone, you know that.” Sydney looked sad for her sister.

There was an awkward silence before Dean abruptly raged,

“When did this turn into sappy freakin’ soap opera?! I thought I was telling my story!”

The girls apologized quietly,

“Sorry.”

“ **Anyway** , back to what **I** was saying – all of a sudden, boom – baby.”

“Yeah, the one you thought talked.” Alyssa said – happy to have moved on from her own problems – going to lounge on one of the beds, nonchalant.

“Oh, it talked. And not baby talk, either.” Dean said coming to hand a beer to Sam.

“Now you know so much about child development?” Sydney smiled.

“I know enough to know that they don’t say, ‘Hey, mom. Who’s **that** guy?’” Dean said raising his brows at her.

“So, cut to… Lydia’s handing this kid who’s calling her mommy over to these two women, right? But this is not a baby. No, no, this kid’s got to be 5…and same name – Emma.” Dean said closing Sam’s laptop as he sat across from him to get his full attention.

“You know, George Foreman named all his sons George.” Sam smiled in amusement.

Alyssa lifted her head from the bed enough to give Sam a look while Dean stared at Sam,

“Are you deliberately messing with me?”

Sam shrugged while still smiling and Dean continued,

“Dude, I know weird. Okay? There is no non-weird explanation for this. This morning, Emma was a baby. By sunset, she’s Hannah Montana. Early years.”

Alyssa gave Dean a look before rubbing her eyes tiredly while Sydney continued to snicker to herself, finding the whole thing hilarious. Suddenly Sam’s cellphone rang. He took it out of his pocket and looked at it,

“It’s the professor.”

“Oh. Good. The professor. Yeah. I’m sure he’ll crack this wide open.” Dean said sarcastically before taking another swig of beer.

Sam shushed him before answering the phone.

 

“You know, identifying this scrawl was no day at the beach. Lesser scholars would have crumbled.” Professor Morrison paced in front of the projector screen with the picture Sam had taken of the symbol carved into all the victims’ chests.

“Professor… the symbol?” Sam said from one of the lecture seats the four hunters were sitting in.

“Yeah. Yeah. It’s ancient, regional. **Very** difficult to identify. But I managed to find a match.” The professor said changing the slide to a different picture.

“It’s a variation of a symbol associated with the Greek pantheon, the temple of the goddess Harmonia. According to myth, the coupling of Harmonia and Ares, the god of war, produced the Amazons.” The professor pointed to the picture of a ruin with symbols on it.

“The Amazons?” Sydney asked.

“Like Wonder Woman?” Dean asked.

Alyssa gave Dean a look before the professor answered him,

“No, like – like a tribe of warriors. They actually existed. The comic books – they’re just silly perversions.”

“The symbol – I believe it originated with the Amazons. Pictographs meant to pay homage to Harmonia – occult talismans, if you will. They had an exclusively female culture. No use for men whatsoever, except procreation.” The professor explained while changing the slide to a Greek vase.

Alyssa had leaned forward during the explanation looking quite interested. She spoke while still leaning, chin resting on her hands,

“All the vics **were** male.”

“So you said – with this symbol carved in their chests.” The professor changed the slide to a breakdown of the symbol pointing to the whole one.

“With their hands and feet cut off.” Sam said.

“Now, **that** is interesting.” The professor said becoming animated.

“Got our attention.” Dean said.

“After they were impregnated, they killed the male – first cutting off certain body parts.” The professor continued.

The group all looked at one another.

 

“I know Bobby’s got a Grecian encyclopedia of weird in here. I saw it last time I was looking through this stupid...” Dean said looking through the boxes of Bobby’s book stash.

“Here, let me. I’ve been working with these guys a lot more than you have. I believe I know what you’re talking about.” Alyssa came to stand next to Dean.

Sam was sipping on some coffee while he and Sydney were off to the side looking at their laptops.

“Would it kill him to have a system?” Dean said dusting his hands off.

“He has a system. His files are set up like his brain.” Sydney commented.

“I’m still working on modernizing it. But as you can see, the books just never end.” Alyssa sighed holding her hands out wide, pointing to all the books.

Dean took out the flask and took a swig before asking Sam and Sydney,

“You guys got anything?”

“Uh, yeah. There’s this whole crazy side to Amazon lore that Professor Morrison didn’t even mention.” Sam said.

“That’s ‘cause he doesn’t believe in it, which is a real handicap when you’re trying to deal with it.” Sydney said.

“Right. Um, apparently, there was this long, bloody war. The amazon population was decimated, so they made a bargain with Harmonia to replenish their ranks and make them stronger.” Sam continued.

“Well, I’d say throwing grown men through walls was stronger.” Dean commented.

“That’d be pretty cool. It’d make hunting the big bads a lot easier, for sure.” Alyssa smiled while she combed through the books.

“Yeah. Well, basically, they became more than human. Harmonia turned them into monsters.” Sydney said.

“Okay, maybe not so cool anymore.” Alyssa frowned.

“Can you kill them like humans? Or is there some kind of trick?” Dean asked.

“Uh – doesn’t say.  No idea. I guess it could go either way.” Sam said.

“Well, that’s helpful. What else?” Dean asked.

“The lore says they reproduced quickly – as in, after mating, they gave birth within 36 hours. The babies grew incredibly fast, then the aging process became normal. Which is one way to make an army, I guess. The mating cycle is every two years. They send out all the women who have reached child-bearing age.” Sydney explained.

Dean and Alyssa got thoughtful looks on their faces while Sydney had explained the fast growing children part.

“Which lines up, ‘cause this happens every couple of years in different towns, right?” Alyssa asked.

“Yeah. And we know for sure that at least some of the vics hooked up with strange women days before being killed Amazon style.” Sam said.

“Hooked up in the same bar I met Lydia, right?” Dean asked, closing the book he was scanning.

“Yeah.” Sydney said giving Dean a strange look.

“And then suddenly, she’s got a little baby in like fruit-fly time. That baby turns into a little girl just as fast.”

“Wow. So maybe you’re–” Sam said looking shell shocked.

“Don’t say it.” Dean cut him off.

Sam continued,

“Look, if that kid’s yours–”

“I said don’t say it!” Dean raised his voice, staring Sam down.

“Not talking about it doesn’t make her go away, Dean.” Sydney said.

“Fine. **I** won’t. But, Dean…Dude, seriously, a one-night stand, you’re just gonna…Roll the dice? You don’t even–”

“Of course not…Sam. What, do you think I’m brain-dead? Accidents happen. If one even did, which I-I-I don’t think…” Dean started, then paused in thought, smiled before catching himself, and finally continued,

“No. You know what? Stop. We’re not gonna talk about this anymore because my skin’s starting to crawl!”

“All right, fine. But if it’s true, if it happened…” Sam said quietly.

“I know. I got to hang on to my hands and feet.” Dean said, taking a long swig from his flask.

“I can’t believe we’re even having to talk about this in the first place. Thank God I don’t have to worry about this shit. And I swear to **God** if you end up pregnant with some monster baby ‘cause you can’t calm your lady parts, I **will** kill you.” Alyssa said turning on Sydney.

“Hey! I’m not the one who went and knocked up some monster chick! Look what you did, Dean! Getting me in trouble!” Sydney complained to Dean who just looked at her miserably.

 

“Looking through Bobby’s files is like dumpster diving.” Dean complained still looking through Bobby’s hoard hours later.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Alyssa said looking up from logging another book.

“So, it makes sense why the amazons all want to hook up with decent-looking, successful guys.” Sam said grabbing a photo from the pile to bring it over to the job wall the four had started.

“Oh, they’re picky about the gene pool?” Dean asked.

“Right.” Sydney said tacking up some other things to the wall before turning to Dean,

“So what was Lydia doing with you?”

“That’s what I started thinking too when Sydney was telling us about the whole fast growing kids and how it was matching up with what you were telling us last night. But like she said, the only thing I don’t get is, why you? You don’t match the rest of the vics’ M.O.s completely. Like yeah, you’re young and good looking, but you’re not exactly well-off and successful. So that’s got me thinking, what exactly did you tell Lydia?” Alyssa asked Dean.

“Well, she may or may not have thought I was a rich investment banker.” Dean looked a little embarrassed before pulling out his flask and taking a swig.

The rest of the group face-palmed. Sam could only rub his face tiredly while turning back to the wall. Alyssa went back to archiving while mumbling to herself,

“See, this is what people get for being shallow assholes. Shouldn’t matter how much money a guy has or what he looks like and vice versa…”

“Amen.” Sydney said hanging up a newspaper clipping.

A soft shuffle brought Dean’s attention down to the bed where suddenly a scrap of papyrus that hadn’t been there before now laid on top of one of the books he’d been going through.

“Guys.” Dean said.

“Yeah?” Sam asked turning around, Sydney doing the same and Alyssa looked up from her laptop.

“These papers just moved.”

“What?” Sydney asked confused.

“I didn’t touch them.” Dean said looking around a little paranoid.

Sam uncrossed his arms and went over to his bag pulling out his EMF reader. He pulled up the antenna and turned it on. It immediately went wild in his hands. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

“It’s all over the place.” Sam said walking towards the bed,

“Redline.”

He walked to the wall,

“Redline.”

He walked back towards the table,

“Oh, and… power lines by the **open window** , where there’s a **breeze** …that could have moved the papers.”

“Did you guys feel a breeze?” Dean asked looking all around, accusatory.

“It doesn’t matter, Dean. The readings are useless.” Sam said before putting the EMF reader back.

“Hey. Maybe, uh...” Dean said holding up Bobby’s flask, waving it back and forth.

“We burned him, Dean.” Sam said with an angry frown.

“So what?” Dean shrugged it off.

“So, what are you suggesting?” Sydney asked curiously.

“I don’t know. What about you guys?” Dean asked.

“Concentrate on something else.” Sam said disapprovingly.

Alyssa had small frown on her face while she quietly contemplated it all before asking,

“Why?”

“Because it’s not Bobby!” Sam yelled walking towards her.

Dean sidestepped into his path,

“Could be.”

“No, it **couldn’t** be!” Sam said stepping around Dean.

“Why not?”

“Because we **want** it to be.” Sam said turning back on Dean angrily.

The two stared at each other wordlessly before Sam reached behind Dean and snatched up the page sulkily.

“Maybe it’s useful.” Sydney offered.

“It’s in a pile of ‘maybe it’s useful.’ Besides, it’s in Greek. Nobody reads Greek.” Sam looked the papyrus over.

“Yeah, except Greeks. Oh, and **Bobby** … And probably Ally – do you know Greek?” Dean turned, asking the blonde.

“Uh… no, not really. Not quite my cup of tea. I mean, I can pick a few things out and understand a little bit but I’m definitely not fluent by any means. However, we **do** know someone who is.” Alyssa said looking over to Sam with raised brows.

“Professor Morrison.” Sam said in realization before going to the table to grab some things.

“Really?” Dean rolled his eyes.

“I’m going, Dean. You stay here, keep the door locked. Ally and Syd can back you up.”

Alyssa stood up, closing her laptop,

“I’ll go with you. Like I said, I’m not fluent, but I can help. I’ll look it over in the car, though I probably won’t get a whole lot from it. Even though he’s a dumbass, he’s still a lot more knowledgeable about this stuff than us.”

“Alright.” Sam nodded then turned to Dean,

“Don’t go anywhere. I mean it.”

“Fine.” Dean said raising his arms.

“Sydney can handle him.” Alyssa smiled at her older sister who smiled back,

“You bet your ass.”

“We’ll be back soon as we can.” Sam said.

With that, they left.

 

Sam and Alyssa opened Professor Morrison’s office door and walked in.

Professor Morrison who was at his desk looked up from what he was doing and said,

“Oh, you have **got** to be kidding. I have office hours tomorrow–”

“I’m sorry, professor. We need your help.” Sam said pulling out the page of papyrus, slamming it on his desk.

“I’m no expert but I do know **some** Greek. I tried reading it over but I couldn’t make much of it. Just words here and there.” Alyssa said, a little embarrassed.

“The FBI isn’t paying me enough for this.” Morrison griped, taking the paper up.

Sam leaned down,

“Alright. We can sweeten the deal. We’ll remove your wiretap.”

The professor gave them wide eyes.

 

“Hey, I’m gonna go take a shower. I expect you’re not gonna run off while I’m gone. So since the room’s right next door just holler if you need me.” Sydney told Dean who was surfing on Sam’s laptop.

“Yes, mom.” Dean rolled his eyes.

Sydney snorted, shaking her head as she left the room. It wasn’t long after that a light knock came at the door. Dean raised a brow,

“Well that didn’t take long.”

As he went over to open the door he said loudly,

“What, you didn’t trust me to stay –”

Opening the door revealed a young girl looking about 16 years old.

“You’re not Sydney.”

“Hi. You don’t know me, but my name is Emma. I need your help. I think I’m in trouble, and you’re the only person I can trust.” The girl, Emma, pleaded.

“Why?” Dean asked, on guard.

“Because you’re my father.”

“How’d you find me?” Dean asked looking a bit sick.

“They’ve been watching you, ever since mom got pregnant.” Emma said.

“Well, if you’re such a prisoner, you mind telling me how you escaped?” Dean asked with narrowed eyes, suspicious.

“I waited until lights out. The women who watch over us change shifts a little after 10:00.” Emma answered easily.

“Uh-huh. And you left because…?”

“They stick you in there, and you trust them. It’s all you know. And you don’t question what they want you to do – terrible things. That’s why I had to leave. They tortured me. They told me I had to endure pain so I could be strong like them. But I don’t want to be like them.” Emma said tearing up, raising her wrist to show a fresh brand that’d been burned there.

“Okay. Come on in.” Dean stepped back, welcoming the girl in.

He closed and locked the door behind her,

“Have a seat.”

He cleared his throat as he came to stand in front of her,

“Okay. Let’s assume that you’re not… like them. Yet. What do you want me to do?”

“Get me away from here. You’re a good man. My mother told me that.” Emma said trying to appeal to him.

Dean scoffed,

“I seriously doubt she said that. And if you knew me, you would seriously doubt it’s true.”

“They told me you’re a hunter. So maybe you’ll understand about me. Maybe you can protect me. Just long enough so I can get away. Then I’ll leave you alone. I know you don’t want me.” Emma said pitifully.

“Alright, let’s not… go there, okay? This isn’t a matter of... You get this isn’t a normal situation, right?”

“How would I know? Three days ago, I wasn’t even alive. Now here I am. My mother threw me into that place. And my father…well…You get this is my last chance to have anything normal ever, right?” Emma teared up again.

 

“It’s fascinating.” Professor Morrison said examining the page through a magnifying glass, Alyssa at his side looking over his shoulder.

“What’s it say?” Sam asked.

“Oh, I haven’t gotten there yet. The paper is handmade. A cellulose, rather like papyrus, which would explain its durability.” The professor started to go on a spiel.

“Professor –” Sam said trying to get him back on track.

“Wherever did you get it?” The professor asked, cutting him off.

Alyssa smirked,

“A crazy, drunk, old genius.”

Morrison chuckled,

“Yeah. They always have the good stuff. Well, it’s in Greek.”

“Yeah, yeah. W-we know that.” Sam said looking like he wanted to strangle the man.

“Not a common dialect. My God, what is it with you all and Amazons?” The professor looked up at the two.

“Professor, it’s important.” Alyssa chided.

“At 11:30 at night, it better be. Oh, here’s a new twist. It repeats the conventional lore. Amazon warriors mate with males. The males are murdered. Yada, yada. But according to this…It’s not the women who do the killing. Instead, a ritual of initiation requires that the child born of the mating process must kill her own father.” Professor Morrison explained.

Both Alyssa and Sam went wide-eyed.

“What?” Sam said taken aback.

 

“You look exhausted.” Dean said turning to Emma after looking out the window.

“And starving. It’s been a tough sweet 16. So you believe me? You’ll help me?” Emma asked.

Dean crossed his arms over his chest,

“If you really want help.”

 

Sam and Alyssa were rushing their way through the school trying to get back to the motel as quickly as they could, both pulling their phones out to reach their according sibling. Just before they reached the exit, they ran into detective Charlene. Alyssa and Sam jumped in surprise,

“Detective.”

“Agents. You’re here late.”

“Yeah. Listen, could we talk in the morning?” Alyssa said going to push past her, pulling Sam with her.

Charlene grabbed Alyssa’s arm roughly, halting her immediately, thus Sam along with her. Alyssa winced when the detective grabbed her arm, that’s when she looked down and noticed the Harmonia mark branded into the detective’s wrist. Alyssa cursed under her breath.

“What’s your hurry…Alyssa… Sam…” Charlene looked to each person accordingly,

“Alyssa Wieger and Sam Winchester. Let’s see. I could run you in for impersonating federal agents.”

Suddenly Charlene’s irises turned a golden yellow, the skin around her eyes a bright red. She grabbed Alyssa by both arms before tossing the small blonde easily into the exit doors. Alyssa noiselessly fell to the floor in a crumpled heap with her back to the two.

“Ally!” Sam yelled, starting after her before Charlene blocked his path.

He tried to throw a punch but was knocked across the hall before he could manage. Charlene turned back towards Alyssa, pulling out a bronze dagger. She began heading down the steps towards the blonde when suddenly Alyssa flipped around, her gun aimed, and shot Charlene right in the chest. The amazon fell backwards to the floor with a grunt. Alyssa slowly climbed to her feet, her gun steady on Charlene’s body. She walked over to check but Charlene was dead. Alyssa lowered her gun with a groan,

“That hurt, you bitch.”

Sam made his way over,

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll live. You?” Alyssa asked holstering her gun.

“Me too.” Sam nodded reaching into his pocket before exclaiming,

“Damn.”

He had pulled out his phone, but it was completely broken.

“Hold on, I’ll grab mine –” Alyssa started, reaching into her pockets, but quickly noticed it wasn’t there.

She looked around and finally found her phone lying in one of the corners near the exit. She picked it up and cursed,

“Are you fucking serious?!”

Her screen was entirely shattered. She pressed the power button but nothing happened.

“That bitch is lucky she’s dead, otherwise I’d have killed her again. God damn, man. I knew I should’ve bought that life-proof case.” Alyssa spat, cradling her phone.

“We need to get back ASAP. Come on.” Sam tugged at her elbow.

 

“Well, now, what happens when they find out you’re missing?” Dean asked seriously.

“They may have already found out. And they’ll hunt me down. Look, I know this is gonna be hard, but if I’m gonna get out, I have to do it now.” Emma said while Dean headed to the fridge.

His back to her, he bent down, opening the fridge,

“We got cheese and a leftover burrito. The girls probably have something better in their room…”

“Doesn’t make a difference.” Emma said standing up from the bed, a bronze dagger slipping from her sleeve and into her hand.

Dean slammed the fridge door closed, turning to Emma with his gun aimed at her, cocking it just as she began to advance towards him,

“You were asking if I believed you.”

 

Meanwhile, Sam and Alyssa were racing back. Sam swerved around traffic, ran red lights, going as fast as he could while Alyssa gripped her seat tightly.

 

“I was told you’d be a challenge.” Emma said condescendingly.

“I figured you’d chat me up. Try and catch me off guard. Almost worked. I was expecting your mother.” Dean’s aim was steady.

“It’s not her place. **I** have to kill you.”

“Is that what they told you?” Dean asked.

“It’s what I am.” Emma said, matter of fact.

“Well, then, I should just kill you right now.”

“Sure. But you could have done that 30 seconds ago.” Emma smiled.

 

The car came to a screeching halt; Sam and Alyssa practically jumped out, running into the building and up the stairs.

 

“It’s weirdly hard, isn’t it? It is for me.” Emma said, looking like it totally wasn’t.

“Knock it off.” Dean frowned.

“How could it not be? You’re my father.”

“Hey! We’re not gonna do that.” Dean yelled.

“But it’s true. You’re the reason that we’re standing here.” Emma said.

 

“ _You’re the reason that we’re standing here._ ”

Sam and Alyssa could hear from outside the door. Just then the door to Alyssa and Sydney’s room opened. Sydney jumped in surprise seeing the two standing there. She opened her mouth to speak when Alyssa quickly held a hand up to silence her. She motioned to Sam and Dean’s room and Sydney understood what was happening right away.

 

“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. So now someone has to kill someone.” Emma said with attitude.

 

Sam quietly cracked the door open, peeping into the room.

 

“You know what? So far, my childhood’s been kind of disappointing.” Emma said sarcastically.

“You haven’t killed anybody yet, Emma. Walk away. Right now – I won’t go after you.” Dean tried to convince her.

“I can’t. I don’t have a choice.”

Suddenly the door burst open with Sam, Alyssa, and Sydney all rushing into the room. Emma flipped around, her irises going golden, eyes going red, before they quickly turned back to normal as she turned back to Dean with a pleading face,

“Please don’t let them hurt me.”

Emma turned back to face the trio, where she and Sam stared at each other for a heartbeat before Sam pulled the trigger, shooting her right in the abdomen. Emma fell to the floor dead. The four all looked at each other silently, looking over her dead body.

 

The group of hunters, piled into the Buick, pulled into the alley where the Amazons’ hideout was. They came to a stop and got out, heading for the door to the lair. They all pulled their guns out, Dean slowly opening the door,

“Here’s the mother ship. Let’s get this done.”

They went in, guns up and aimed, only to find that it was completely empty.

“They’re gone.” Sydney said.

 

The four were now driving down the road with Sam at the wheel. Dean sat shotgun while the girls sat in the back. They were all silent as Sam stared out the windshield with a scowl. Dean looked over,

“Hey, you know what? I don’t like it, either. I wanted to torch them just as much as you. Yeah, but, hey… Next time they surface, we’ll be ready… If we live that long.”

Alyssa and Sydney watched in silence from the back while Dean looked back over to Sam again,

“Alright, fine. Just sit there and be pissed.”

“What did you say to me… When **I** was the one who choked? What did you say about Amy? ‘You kill the monster!’” Sam said angrily.

“I was **going** to!” Dean shouted.

“Oh, the hell you were! You think I’m an idiot?” Sam quickly retorted.

“What, you think **I** am?”

“Guys…” Sydney tried to gently cut in.

“Dean, you were gonna let her walk!”

“No, I wasn’t. That’s ridiculous!” Dean said in disbelief.

“Look, man, she was **not** yours. Not really.” Sam tried to calm himself.

“Actually, she, uh, she **was** , really. She just also happened to be a crazy man-killing monster. But, uh, hey.” Dean chuckled with no humor behind it.

“One big happy family.” Alyssa commented softly.

“You know what? Bobby was right. Your head’s not in it, man. When Cas died, you were wobbly, but now…” Sam sighed.

“Now **what**? Oh, what, you’re dealing with it so perfect? Yeah, news flash, pal – you’re just as screwed up as I am! You’re just…bigger.” Dean said becoming angry himself.

Sam opened his mouth, closed it, eyebrows furrowed, looking over at Dean,

“What?!”

“I don’t know.” Dean said, also confused.

“Look… Dean, the thing is, tonight…it almost got you killed. Now, I don’t care how you deal. I really, really don’t. But just don’t – don’t get killed.”

“I’ll do what I can.” Dean said quietly.

“Well, what’s that supposed to mean?” Sam asked.

“It means I’ll do what I can. Alright? You can shut up about it.” Dean said testily.

There was a moment of silence before Alyssa and Sydney burst into laughter behind them. Dean turned on them heatedly,

“What’s so funny?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Sydney snickered.

“Are your guys’ fights always like this, because that was adorable.” Alyssa wiped at her eyes.

“Oh, shut up. Like you guys never fight.” Dean glared.

“But we don’t. Like, seriously, we have never really fought before.” Sydney stated simply.

“Right. It’s pretty great actually. We’re each other’s best friend. We’ve been together our whole lives. We’ve got no secrets between us.” Alyssa smiled at her sister.

“Your point?” Sam asked with agitation.

“Point is – we’re up front with each other. It’s why we never fight. And your fight just now, from what we could see, was basically all because you guys won’t just come out and say, ‘Because I love and care for you very much, I’m upset because you almost died.’” Alyssa leaned forward with a tender smile.

“Be honest with each other. Treasure each other. Don’t be afraid to tell one another how you feel because at the end of the day, you’re both all you have left.” Sydney patted the two on the shoulders before settling back in her seat.

Sam and Dean just glanced at each other wordlessly, digesting the girls’ advice.


	5. Plucky Pennywhistle's Magic Menagerie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follows along with season 7 episode 14 - Plucky Pennywhistle's Magic Menagerie

Sam and Sydney ran through a parking lot, casting panicked glances behind them as they tore their way through. They quickly ducked behind a car, breathing heavily. Sam said to himself,

“It’s okay. They can’t hurt you. They **can’t** hurt you.”

Sydney tried assuring him, as well as herself, quoting,

“’If it bleeds, you can kill it.’”

Sam nodded,

“Yeah. ‘If it bleeds, you can kill it.’”

They both quietly peeked over the car, seeing a clown with long neon green hair only a few yards away. It noticed them and started laughing gleefully as it advanced towards them. Sam jerked in fear upon being noticed while Sydney grabbed his hand, pulling him with her to run. They ran to a closed auto shop, kicking the door in, with the clown right on their tail. They hastily made their way inside, shutting the door right in the clown’s shrieking face. They locked the bolt and dragged a bunch of things lying around to barricade the door. As they attempted to make their way further in, the clown banged the door open with ease – as if there were nothing even blocking the way. It laughed maniacally – rotted teeth and bright red eyes flashing at them. They turned to get away from it only to be met with another clown – this one with a neon green afro. Afro clown magically appeared directly right in front of them, smiling with similar rotted teeth and evil eyes, laughing low and rough. Sam and Sydney both swallowed in despair.

 

60:00:00 Earlier:

 

The hunters were gathered by their car – now a golden yellow 1973 Mercury Cougar – in the middle of nowhere waiting near a payphone when it suddenly rang. Dean swiftly strode up to it, picking up the phone, answering it,

“Hello? Ye – …. ‘I am the egg man.’”

Sam, Sydney, and Alyssa all watched Dean with amused smiles as he continued his conversation with an annoyed expression.

“Seriously, Frank, payphones? I mean, come on. I’m getting the clap off this thing just touching it.”

Sydney and Alyssa both cracked up, promptly clapping their hands in sync. Sam smirked while he continued to read a newspaper while Dean just rolled his eyes at them and went back to listening to Frank,

“Fred Savage? Really? Yeah, no, I know, big mouths are everywhere…. Uh, well, since you asked, some actual intel on the Dick Roman guy **would** be nice… Fine. Alright. Yeah, good looking out.”

Dean hung up the phone and squeezed out of the booth, wiping his hands on his jacket with a disgusted expression,

“I hope he finds something quick. This whole protocol du jour thing’s really creeping my cheese.”

“So, we got dick on Dick?” Alyssa asked, looking completely mischievous with a wide grin plastered on her face.

Dean blinked at her silently before saying,

“That’s a vivid way of putting it.”

“Mmmmm. Dick on dick. Reminds me that I haven’t watched a good porno in a while. Looks like I know what I’ll be doing at the next motel.” Sydney smiled wickedly.

The boys grimaced in repulsion while Alyssa covered her face in second-hand embarrassment. Sydney threw an arm around her sister’s shoulders,

“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy watching some good guy-on-guy action. Remember that one time when we –”

Alyssa clapped a hand over her sister’s mouth, face burning a bright crimson,

“Okay, okay! You don’t need to go announcing it to the world!”

Dean cleared his throat, deciding to ignore the girls, turning to Sam,

“You find anything on Wonder Woman?”

“No. And there probably won’t be. They are definitely gone. **But** I might have found something over in Kansas.” Sam said holding up the newspaper he had been reading.

“Alright, well, let’s do it. But, uh, a few simple rules, okay? No babies. In fact, no baby mamas. No bars. No booze. No hot chicks of any kind. Uh – and no hot dudes for you two either.” Dean directed the latter to the girls.

Alyssa – whose cheeks were still hot – said with indignation, crossing her arms over her chest,

“Are you saying we’re not hot chicks?”

Sam cut in,

“Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say –”

“Hey. **You** spawn a monster baby, see how quick **you** want to dive back in the pool.” Dean replied to Sam, not even dignifying Alyssa’s question with a response.

 

The four were in their FBI getups gathered around a coroner’s table as the coroner lifted the sheet off of the corpse. It was a heavy-set man covered all over in circular welts of all sizes.

“Whoa! Those are **not** the fun kind of hickeys.” Sydney winced in mock pain.

“You’re – you’re saying an **octopus** did this?” Sam asked the coroner incredulously.

“Not just any octopus. Based on welt diameter, Enteroctopus Dofleini.” The coroner said, reading from his clipboard.

“And for those of us who skipped the Enteroctopus class?” Dean asked with furrowed brows.

“Giant Pacific octopus.”

Alyssa’s eyebrows shot up in surprise,

“How is that –”

“How giant we talking, doc?” Dean cut in.

“Approximately 30 feet.”

Sam chuckled un-ironically,

“I mean, aren’t… giant octopi rare around here?”

“Rare? I think you mean impossible. They’re already rare enough on their own in their natural habitat. There’s absolutely no way one could be in Wichita, Kansas.” Alyssa said.

“Yet here we are.” The coroner said.

The other hunters looked at Alyssa who shrugged meekly,

“Animal Planet is a guilty pleasure of mine.”

“Alright, **anyway** … so what happened? Guy comes home, cracks a beer, and gets… suckered to death?”

“Obviously, this was some kind of freak fetish attack. Someone created those hickey marks, then bled the man out.” The coroner said while moving the man’s head to the side, showing a bite mark on his neck.

 As the gang was leaving the building, Dean began,

“That bite look a little vampy to you?”

“Yeah, no question.” Sam agreed.

“So what are we looking for? An octovamp? A vamptopus?” Sydney asked.

“That’s crazy even for us, right?” Alyssa asked.

“It does push the envelope. Let’s go chat up the widow.” Dean said.

 

“We’re very sorry for your loss, ma’am.” Sam said to the sad-looking woman the four sat across from.

“Mrs. Harper, we know this is, uh, bad timing. But we just have a few routine questions that we need to ask you. Is that okay?” Alyssa asked gently over the mug she held in her hands.

“Yeah.” Mrs. Harper nodded.

“Did the house feel any different lately?” Sydney asked.

“Different…?”

“Anything strange. Cold spots. Uh, did you smell anything weird? Maybe sulfur-y?” Dean offered.

“No. Not that I can remember.”

“Okay, we’re just ticking all the boxes here. Um, what about any skeletons in your husband’s closet?” Sydney asked.

“Skeletons? What do you mean?” Mrs. Harper chuckled.

“Can you think of anybody who would want to do him harm? A colleague, an old flame.” Alyssa asked.

Mrs. Harper looked down.

“The tiniest detail could really help.” Sam said.

“You want to know what he was up to lately? Ask Stacey. She was here the night he died.”

“Um… Stacey?” Sam asked.

“Our nanny. Any other questions?”

“No, that’s…thank you. You’ve been a big help.” Dean said putting down his mug on the coffee table.

The four hunters stood, walking to the front door. They turned to Mrs. Harper,

“Really appreciate the hospitality, ma’am.” Alyssa smiled lightly while Dean opened the door.

“Mom, dad, nanny – boy, that is a love triangle right out of casa erotica. ‘Course, in those, the jealous wife tends to channel her feelings more productively.” Dean said as they all walked away from the house.

The other three scoffed at him. Sam starting,

“The only thing I can’t wrap my mind around is –”

“What, how wife lady summoned an octovamp?” Sydney finished.

“More like, ‘why?’ I mean, kind of impractical, right?” Sam said.

“Yeah. Alright, one of us needs to go talk to the naughty nanny. The others stay here, shake down the place when the wife leaves – see what we’re dealing with.” Dean said.

“Alright, I’m on the nanny.” Sam said.

“No, I’m on the nanny.” Dean interjected.

“I thought you said no hot chicks.” Alyssa said narrowing her eyes.

“We don’t know that she’s hot.” Dean argued.

Alyssa and Sydney crossed their arms over their chests while Sam walked away shaking his head.

 

“Now, uh, how would you describe your relationship with the deceased?” Dean asked the nanny, Stacey, as he followed her inside her apartment.

“I don’t know. Normal, I guess.” Stacey said.

“Normal?” Alyssa said coming up from behind Dean, glaring at him as he not so discreetly ogled the girl. He returned her glare with a shrug.

“Well, I mostly dealt with Debra.” Stacey said.

Alyssa and Dean stared at her silently.

“There was nothing going on if that’s what you mean.”

“Debra said that you were at the house late the night that…that Brian died.” Alyssa said.

“Yeah. Brian was working late, so I stayed with Kelly. She was pretty upset.” Stacey said while she put some books away.

“Why’s that?” Dean asked.

“Well, it was her birthday. We had a party at Plucky’s.” Stacey said while straightening up.

“Plucky’s. Why does that sound familiar?” Alyssa asked.

“Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie? Pizza chain for kids. Actually, more for lazy parents. Anyway, her dad showed up for five minutes, then he went back to work. And, of course, her mom was out of town. This stupid kid told Kelly her folks didn’t really love her. She freaked. I was calming her down for hours.”

“Uh, did you… notice anything weird at the house?” Dean asked.

“Weird like…?” Stacey asked.

“Anything. Even a bad feeling.” Dean clarified.

“No, nothing like that. Actually, Kelly does have a weird thing about closets. But it’s just kid stuff.”

“Try us.” Alyssa said.

“She thinks there’s a monster in her closet. It drives everyone crazy.”

 

“ _Hey._ ” Sam said over the phone.

“Hey, we talked to the wrong person.” Dean replied as he and Alyssa walked to the car.

“ _What?_ ”

“Yeah, forget the mom. Talk to the daughter. She’s mad at her dad for ditching her birthday.”

“ _So, what do you think? A birthday wish gone wrong, something like that?_ ”

“I don’t know. It could be.”

Sam and Sydney were watching the house from their car. Sam said,

“We got a 20 on her right now.”

“ _Can you get to her without tripping the Amber Alert?_ ”

“We’ll try.” Sam scoffed.

“ _Alright, see what you can find out._ ”

 

Kelly was drawing on the sidewalk leading up to the house with sidewalk chalk as Sam and Sydney approached her.

“Whatcha working on there?” Sam asked the girl.

“I know who you are.” Kelly said looking up to the two hunters.

“You do?” Sydney asked.

“Mm-hmm. You’re the guys that talked to my mom.”

“That’s right. We did.” Sam chuckled.

From inside the house Kelly’s mom called for her.

“Something wrong?” Sydney asked Kelly, who was looking back to the house.

“My mom will get mad if I talk to you.”

“Um… how come?” Sam asked, squatting down to Kelly’s level.

“Because of what I told the police.”

“And what did you tell the police?” Sydney asked kneeling next to Sam.

“I told them that I tried to warn my dad. That the monster would get him.”

Kelly’s mom suddenly came to the door, coming outside,

“Kelly. Come here! Now! Kelly!”

Kelly stood, staring at Sam and Sydney before turning and going into the house whilst her mother glared at the two and closed the door behind her. The two sighed before they suddenly noticed what it was Kelly had drawn – a scary looking octopus with sharp, vampire-looking teeth.

 

Now:

 

The two hunters quickly adapted a back to back stance – Sam facing the curly-haired clown, Sydney against the long-haired clown. As the curly-haired clown walked towards them, Sam swung at it, successfully connecting the punch, knocking the clown away. Meanwhile, Sydney Sparta-kicked the long-haired clown backwards that advanced on them from behind.

“If it bleeds, you can kill it.” Sam said pulling out his gun and aimed it at the curly-haired clown’s chest before pulling the trigger twice.

The clowns cackled elatedly as glitter sprayed everywhere and the shots appeared to have little effect on the fiendish monster. Sam stared in horror while the clown chortled louder and more obnoxiously before striding forward and slapping the gun from his hands roughly, then punched him square in the solar plexus, knocking the wind right out of him with two punches to the face adding insult to injury. Sydney, who had been in a defensive stance against the other clown, turned around quickly – yelling Sam’s name in concern – when the long-haired clown chose that opportune moment to strike, coming up behind her, picking her up as if she weighed nothing, and threw her across the room into a bunch of tools and standing tool boxes. She crumpled to the floor wordlessly like a ragdoll. Sam would’ve called out to her had he regained his breath but he was suddenly quite busy himself again when the curly-haired clown grabbed him from behind and held him still with a vice-like grip for the long-haired clown who was winding up a punch for him. Except he didn’t punch him after all and instead head-butt him brutally.

 

36:36:00 Earlier:

 

The hunters were at a new crime scene. Currently Dean was closely examining a gaping bloody hole in a wooden board between a chain-link fence where the victim had been killed.

“Huh.” Dean said and backed up to talk to the local police,

“Hey. Um…Okay, so, the horse I get. The hoof prints, the jumping over the fence. But, uh, what ran him through?”

“Best thing I could tell you is something **big**.”

“So, what, like a lance?” Alyssa asked, who had been talking with the police while Dean had been examining the scene.

The cop shrugged, looking just as equally confused by the situation. That’s when the EMTs went by with the covered body on a gurney taking it to the ambulance. The spouse was waiting nearby looking distraught as another police officer went up to talk to her.

“It’s sad. Lady’s got to pull her friggin’ 8 year old out of school and tell him his dad’s dead.” The cop the two had been talking to, told them.

“Excuse us.” Alyssa said as they left to go speak with the newly made widow themselves.

“Excuse me, ma’am. Agents Jones and Willis, FBI.” Dean said introducing the two as they all pulled out their badges.

“I’m sorry. I- I really need to go.” The wife tearfully said before starting to walk away.

“Okay. Uh, just one quick question, if you don’t mind. Um, was yesterday your son’s birthday?” Alyssa asked.

“Billy’s birthday? No. Why would you ask that?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” Alyssa said shaking her head.

“Oh. But…His father did take him to a friend’s birthday party yesterday.” The widow said before suddenly becoming overcome with tears.

 

At the motel Sam’s cellphone rang, who quickly went over to answer it,

“Hey.”

“ _Hey. You remember a chain called Plucky Pennywhistle’s?_ ” Dean asked.

Sam’s face suddenly went white. Sydney who was in the room with him raised a brow seeing Sam’s reaction to whatever it is he just heard. Sam just ignored her and answered Dean after the pause,

“No.”

“Really? Could have sworn you loved those places.” Dean said walking with Alyssa from the scene.

Alyssa made a face and commented,

“Who the fuck in their right mind likes clowns?”

“ _No, dude, I **hated** them._ ”

“Uh, you would dump me and go trolling for chicks.” Sam said.

“Nice. Ally would kick my ass if I had ever tried that.” Sydney commented while she surfed on her laptop.

 “ _It’s not like I left you in jail. I mean, those places are supposed to be fun._ ”

“Fun? Uh, they’re lame. And they smell like puke. And the ice cream is all grainy.” Sam described while Sydney gagged at said description.

“ _Alright, don’t have one of your episodes, okay? I’m just saying we hit a dead end with this whole wishes-gone-wild thing, but both kids were at Plucky’s day of. Look, why don’t you and Sydney go check out the local Plucky’s and ask about this Billy kid?_ ”

“Look, man, w-why don’t we just…why don’t we just wait for you guys to get back?”

“ _No can do, hermano. We’re on our way to talk to little Billy._ ”

“Why- Why- Why don’t **we** talk to Billy… right now?”

“ _Wait, wait, wait. This isn’t about your, uh, your clown thing, is it?_ ” Dean laughed over the phone.

“What?! No!”

“ _Sammy?_ ”

“No.”

“Yeah, what in the world did they do to you? Alright, you know what? Never mind. Just know that 99.99% of all clowns can’t hurt you. Okay? And if it bleeds, you can kill it.” Dean said hanging up the phone.

“Tell that to all of John Wayne Gacy’s victims.” Alyssa commented sarcastically.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of clowns too.” Dean said in a chastising tone.

“No, I am not **scared** of them. They’re just creepy as hell. Pennywise the clown and Gacy didn’t exactly help my opinion of them either. Ugh. I just hate clowns.” Alyssa said, shaking herself whilst making disgusted noises.

Dean just shook his head at her and got into the car.

“Oh and Sydney is **not** going to like this at all either. I think she’s actually scared of them. That and puppets. Bleh.” Alyssa said ruffling up at the thought of puppets too while she got into the car as well.

“If it bleeds, you can kill it.” Sam whispered to himself quietly.

“If what bleeds?” Sydney asked.

“Nothing. Come on, we gotta go.” Sam said grabbing his things.

 

“ **No**. No, no, no, no, no. There is no way in **hell** I am going in there.” Sydney staunchly refused as she and Sam sat in their car in front of Plucky Pennywhistle’s.

“Look, Sydney, I don’t want to ei-” Sam began.

“No! Fuck clowns! Fuck children! I hate them both! Fuck this place! **No**!” Sydney said, practically throwing a tantrum.

“I’m too old for this.” Sam said quietly, looking back at Plucky’s with a frown.

 

After finally convincing Sydney, the two went inside. They were immediately greeted with cartoon clowns at all turns and screaming running children everywhere. They both took a deep breath and let it out before continuing forward. They went up to the check in counter where they were greeted by a lithe man with curly red hair,

“Welcome to Plucky’s, where all your dreams are good.”

“Could you just, um, maybe... just get the manager for us?” Sam said nervously as he and Sydney got out their badges, flashing them at the man.

The man nodded and left. They went further into the place making sure to deftly avoid every single item of clown paraphernalia. They watched as one of the workers dragged a boy over to a table,

“I just need you to stay sane for three more hours, okay? Here. Finish your homework.”

“Like I can concentrate in here.” The boy called after her as she walked away.

Sam and Sydney looked over and noticed a wall covered in children’s drawings. The papers instructed the children to draw their worst fears in order to make them disappear. They were all labeled by what child drew which drawing. Sam and Sydney noticed that both Kelly and Billy’s drawings were missing.

“Real beauties, huh? We rotate them out once a week. Kids love having their art on the wall.” A woman worker told the two as she walked up to them.

“’Draw your worst fear’?” Sydney asked.

“I **know**. But we don’t post the truly evil stuff – just the standard crap like sharks and ghosts. Jean Holiday, shift manager.” The woman said.

“Johnson and Harvey, FBI. So tell me – why even ask the kids to draw creepy stuff to begin with?” Sam shook Jean’s hand.

“It’s just an exercise…some pop psychologist came up with. Plus, the owner’s obsessed with ‘aiding children’s development.’ So, the place mat is a safe way to get kids to talk about their fears. You know, we get them to sketch it in a little box, and – voila! – Plucky magically transforms it into rainbows and candy. Personally, I think it’s a load of hooey, but they say that if these fears run wild, then if affects kids long into their adulthood.”

Suddenly a clown went by with children trailing behind him. Sam and Sydney jerked back as he passed by them.

“Yeah, I’ve – I’ve – I’ve heard that. Um... so, I don’t know if you’ll remember, but there was a kid in here yesterday named Billy Pogue for a party?” Sam said, recovering first.

“Oh, the conniption kid.”

“Conniption? He – he had –” Sydney began.

“No, no, no, not him. He was fine. It was his dad. He pulls the kid away before cake and presents, and I guess the kid asked to stay for another five minutes. The dad pulls a full-frontal douchebag, starts screaming. Just embarrassed for the kid.”

 

The two went off to the side as Sam pulled out his cellphone to get ahold of Dean. Suddenly a man was clicking his tongue at the two to get their attention,

“Hey. Hey. Hey!”

Sam hung up the phone and he and Sydney walked toward the man who looked to be a janitor.

“You guys cops?”

“Uh, yeah. We’re feds.” Sydney answered him.

“Uh, what are you investigating?”

“Couple of crazy deaths. Why, is there something you want to share?” Sam asked.

“Look – not now. Too many eyes. Come back after closing.” The man said and walked away.

 

Sam and Sydney got back to the motel to find Alyssa and Dean already there. They had paper bags and were pulling out containers of Chinese food when the other two opened the door and came in.

“Hey. So, what’s the lowdown with trauma town?” Dean asked the two with a mischievous smile.

Alyssa smacked Dean on the chest and gave him a look.

“I can tell you this much. Neither vic was up for parent of the year. Kelly’s dad skipped her birthday, and Billy’s dad pulled one of those dick parent scenes that makes everyone cringe.” Sam said bringing over a stack of papers and placing it in front of Alyssa and Dean.

“What the hell are these?” Dean asked.

“Kid therapy. Um, you draw your worst nightmare – poof! – Plucky fixes it. Um, they hang them up on this big wall.” Sydney said going over and slipping out of her suit jacket with Sam.

“Well, can’t argue with this. Leprechauns **are** deadly.” Dean said looking at one of the drawings.

“Yeah, make sure you don’t sneeze three times in a row or else you’ll end up married to one.” Sydney said with a look of seriousness.

Sam and Dean both cocked a brow and Alyssa nodded with her sister in agreement before moving on,

“Okay, so, Kelly **draws** a monster, and then that goes after her father? That’s what we’re saying?”

“Here’s the thing. They label those. And guess which two were missing. Well, name tag was there – no place mat.” Sam said going to grab a container of food.

“Little miss octovamp.” Dean said.

“Yeah. And…Billy. So…somehow, whatever he drew came to life and killed his dad, riding a horse.”

“Close, but no Sea Biscuit. See, we went and had a little chat with Billy. And he drew us this.” Alyssa said pulling out a paper with a unicorn impaling a person drawn on it and handed it to Sam and Sydney.

“Wait. So now unicorns are evil?” Sydney asked.

“Yeah. Obviously.” Dean said pulling apart his chopsticks.

“Well, now the question is, how did a unicorn come off a sketch and kill Billy’s dad? How’s **any** of this happening?” Sam asked.

Dean and Alyssa just shrugged before continuing to dig into their food.

 

The four pulled up to Plucky’s only to find police and an ambulance. They walked up as the EMTs were rolling out a blood soaked sheet covering a body on a gurney from the building. Dean and Alyssa pulled out their badges,

“Hold on one second there, guys.”

They lifted the sheet, seeing what was up while Sam and Sydney came over from talking to the shift manager, Jean.

“So?” Dean asked.

“The manager found the body in the ball pit. Blood everywhere.” Sydney said.

“Cops have a theory?” Alyssa asked.

“Yeah, they think the ball washer did it.” Sam said.

“The what?” Dean asked.

“The… ball washer.”

“The what?”

“The ball–” Sam said before realizing what Dean was doing and held up his arms in a, “ _really dude?_ ” pose.

Alyssa and Sydney just rolled their eyes at him.

“Look at this.” Dean said lifting the sheet for the other two to see.

Sam and Sydney took deep breaths, eyes going wide, upon seeing what was underneath the sheet.

“Thank you, gentlemen.” Alyssa told the EMTs with a smile so they could be on their way.

Dean wiped his hand on his jacket and then jerked a thumb in the direction of the body,

“That’s a shark bite.”

“Yeah.”

“And, uh, judging from the radius, I’d say a 20-footer, at least.”

Alyssa and Sydney nodded in agreement while Sam gave Dean a furrowed-brow confused look.

“’Shark Week,’ man. How do you not watch that? Whole week of sharks.” Dean explained.

Sam just gave him a deadpan look and walked away.

 

The four were looking around the now dark and empty building with flashlights out. They came upon the draw your fear wall and found that another drawing was missing.

“Omar Cooper.” Sydney read,

“How much you want to bet little Omar here was scared of sharks?”

“And Saul the janitor is connected how? I mean, he’s not related to Omar.” Alyssa said.

“No. But Saul had something he wanted to tell us.” Sam said.

“So this isn’t about ganking some dickweed parent.” Dean said.

“More like, uh, silencing a whistle-blower?” Sydney said.

“Great, so whatever we’re looking for can literally fire off childhood fears at will.” Alyssa frowned.

“Wow. Watch out for evil lunch ladies.” Dean said.

“Or bees, wasps, yellow-jackets, anything that flies and stings. Or – or needles. God damn.” Alyssa wrapped her arms around herself in fear.

“More clowns?! Puppets too?!” Sydney said, voice rising in pitch with her escalating fear coming over to clutch at Alyssa.

Dean and Sam just gave the two a look as they held each other dramatically.

“Alright. Let’s comb this place.” Sam said choosing to ignore them, pulling out his EMF reader.

Dean sighed pulling his own EMF reader out,

“Seriously? Dractopus. Sea Biscuit the Impaler. Land Shark – what’s next?”

 

Now:

 

The clown pair threw Sam at one of the trucks in the garage causing the windshield to shatter from the impact. When Sam managed to painfully slide off of the hood of the truck, the clowns were already there to beat him up some more. They kicked him back and forth between each other when Sam clutched the side of the truck, reaching in and finding a tire iron in the bed whilst throwing back an elbow into the face of the long-haired clown effectively knocking it back. When the curly-haired clown moved toward him, Sam striked him across the face with the iron. The clown gave a very unconvincing exclamation of pain before pointing behind Sam, bringing his attention back to the fully recovered long-haired clown who was happily juggling bowling pins. Suddenly the clown surged forward, brandishing one of the pins threateningly while Sam tried to duck out of the way.

 

04:34:12 Earlier:

 

The four hunters were spread out across the hotel room researching – Dean looking through his dad’s journal while the rest were on their laptops. Sam and Dean were sitting across from each other at the little table provided with the room while Alyssa and Sydney took up the beds.

“Maybe… a Tulpa?” Sam suggested.

“No, killings are too spread out.” Alyssa replied not bothering to look up from her laptop.

“True.” Sam agreed,

“Um… Angel?”

“It’s a little imaginative for the God squad, don’t you think?” Dean questioned.

“Yeah. Doesn’t seem to be enough burning bushes, locusts, or people conscious of their blaspheming nakedness.” Sydney added in with a grin, sarcastically – earning a snicker from her sister.

“Alright. So…what?” Sam sighed.

“Yeah, I don’t know. I’m tapped out.” Dean said tiredly, reaching for his coffee.

“Same here.” Sydney agreed, flopping back against the bed.

“Agreed. I’ve never heard of any monster capable of doing this. I don’t think it’s witchcraft either. I feel clueless.” Alyssa slumped back on her elbows, blowing out a breath.

“Well, whatever it is, at least we know **where** it is.” Sam said.

“Plucky’s!” Dean said with mock excitement.

“That’s where the victims are getting picked up.” Alyssa said looking at nothing in particular.

“Yeah, but we swept the place last night, and nada.” Sydney said staring up at the ceiling.

“We can go back. Go to the employees, maybe dig up some dirt.” Sam offered, causing Sydney to spring up from her laying position and earning him a panicked deer-in-the-headlights look.

“What good’s that gonna do? They think you’re feds. The one guy who was gonna rat, he got Bruce’d. If anybody knows anything, they’re not gonna tell you guys.” Dean said matter-of-factly.

“Alright. Yep. That’s the plan.” Sam said clapping his hands together and standing up,

“We’ll go back…I can play bad cop, really lean into them. Sydney can cover good cop. Or we could just play bad cop, bad cop. Whatever works.”

Sydney looked distraught at the mention of having to go back to Plucky’s once again. She looked to her sister with pleading eyes, hoping to worm her way out.

“And…?” Dean asked for further enlightenment.

“And…when we’re done, then you and Ally watch them.” Sam explained.

“So if somebody freaks out, then that’s our creep.” Alyssa asked.

“Or he’ll lead us closer, and you guys can track him.” Sam offered again.

“Well, what’s **our** cover?” Dean asked incredulously.

“I don’t know. Just hang back. Act normal.” Sam said going to the bathroom and closing the door.

“Yeah, yeah. Guy and gal in their 30s hanging out at Plucky’s with no kids – that’s normal. That’s not pervy at all.” Dean began to gripe to himself quietly.

Alyssa just rolled her eyes him,

“I’m not in my 30s yet, old ass. Also stop worrying, I’ve got an idea so I got this covered.”

She turned back to Sydney who was still staring at her with hopeful eyes,

“You’re not getting out of this. No one is. We’re **all** going, Sydney. So go put your big girl pants on.”

Sydney huffed at her dramatically, turning her head from Alyssa indignantly, and flopped back down against the bed again.

 

“So, it doesn’t matter what people say. We’ve roped it off. I’ve notified the powers that be. Everyone’s aware. Just no one goes in the–” The manager, Jean, was telling an employee before Sam and Sydney walked up – Sam cleared his throat loud and obnoxious to get her attention.

“Hi.” Sam said once they had her attention.

“Agents. I bet I know why you’re here.” Jean said.

“How’s business?” Sydney said as agitated as she looked, still sulking from earlier.

“Turns out not even grim flippin’ death can slow down the birthday fun.”

“Hmm.”

“Oh.” The two nodded.

“We roped off the ball pit, though, until corporate can get here.” Jean sighed,

“I just can’t believe the machine fritzed and did Saul in like that.”

“Yeah, that makes three of us.” Sam said, catching onto the aggressive vibe with Sydney,

“We’re gonna need to talk to some of your employees.”

“Like who?”

“Like **you**.” Sydney said almost hostile.

Jean, looking concerned, led the two to the back room.

Meanwhile, Alyssa and Dean were watching on from one of the tables in the dining area. When the three disappeared through a door, Dean began looking elsewhere while Alyssa turned back to Dean. Suddenly a little girl walked by, playing with a large rainbow slinky, immediately catching Dean’s attention. His head immediately whipped to the direction of the prize counter before looking back at Alyssa with excited eyes. She rose a brow before he swiftly grabbed her hand, dragging her with him. He ignored her protests and the fact that she haphazardly slipped a ring onto one of his fingers. When they reached the counter, a tall red-headed man turned around and greeted them jovially,

“Howdy, friends”

Dean pointed behind the man, getting straight to the point,

“Giant slinky. Would have killed for one of those when I was a kid. How much?”

Alyssa was just looking up at Dean from the side, giving him the stink eye while trying to ignore the fact that he still held her hand.

“1,000 tickets.”

“American dinero. How much?” Dean rubbed his fingers together in the universal money sign.

“Oh, we don’t take cash here at Plucky Pennywhistle’s. Only tickets won through hard work and determination.” The man chuckled happily.

Dean looked at him deadpan,

“You mainlined the kool-aid, huh?”

Alyssa pinched Dean’s side, scolding him,

“Dean!”

The worker just tittered on as if Dean had said the funniest thing but quickly died off as Dean continued to stare at him.

“Sorry about my husband. He apparently doesn’t realize that all arcades are like this.” Alyssa smiled kindly at the man while she apologized, coming to stand in front of Dean after finally extracting her hand from his.

“Well, you’re in luck. It’s double ticket Tuesday if you play skeeball.”

“Alright, thank you.” Alyssa said sweetly with another friendly smile before turning and walking away,

“C’mon, Dean.”

Dean continued to silently stare the man down before finally turning and leaving after another call from Alyssa,

“Dean!”

The worker greeted a child who ran up with a bunch of tickets in hand as Dean left,

“Howdy, friend!”

 

Sam, Sydney, and Jean the manager were in the breakroom in the back. Jean was seated at the table while Sam paced around the room intimidatingly and Sydney stood leaning against the walls in the corner, arms crossed over her chest, deciding on the bad cop, bad cop routine.

“So, where were you last night?” Sam asked harshly.

“Well, here. Obviously. I **found** him. But I was by the cash register the whole time. There’s a security camera pointed right at the counter. The cops already looked at it.” Jean explained.

“Uh-huh. And you heard nothing?” Sydney asked coming forward from the corner.

“I heard the ball blaster. I **didn’t** hear him. If I did, I would have run in, of course.”

“Yeah, right, right. So **that’s** your excuse.” Sam laughed softly as if it were funny, closing in on her.

“My **what**? Look, I know I’m new to this job, but I’m–”

“What? How new?” Sydney asked uncrossing her arms.

“Couple weeks. I just got promoted.”

“Hm. So, uh, was there a lot of competition for the gig?” Sam asked, backing off.

“I guess. It comes with benefits. The bosses had us all write essays about how we would do our best for the kids, and they picked me. Don’t be shocked, but I actually did two semesters at college, so…I’m not in any kind of trouble, am I?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” Sydney asked.

“Look, I **know** I’m not perfect, but I’m trying. And, I mean, it’s not as if I’d ever do anything illegal.” Jean started to visibly become panicked.

Sam slammed the table, causing Jean to jump, then leaned forward and stared her down,

“Sure you wouldn’t.”

 

Alyssa and Dean were at the skee ball machines racking up tickets. Dean smiled as he got a ball into another high-scoring hole. Alyssa frowned,

“You seriously didn’t know about the whole arcade scam?”

Dean looked at her sideways,

“What scam?”

“The whole business scheme to make more money obviously. You spend all this money trying to win these tickets for penny prizes. Just one big scam.” Alyssa explained as she landed another ball in a hole, causing the machine to spit out more tickets.

“Ah, that one. Forgot about it… Speaking of scams – so when exactly was our wedding, **honey**?” Dean quirked a brow, raising up his left hand, waggling his ring finger back and forth – having finally noticed the fake ring she’d shoved on his finger.

Alyssa stopped, putting both hands on her hips, and turned to face him,

“I told you, I had our cover sorted out. An expectant married couple seemed like the only logical, least pervy option, don’tcha think?”

Dean nodded contemplatively before adding softly,

“Whatever you say, **sweetie pie**.”

Alyssa narrowed her eyes at him,

“You’re reading into this way more than you need to, dude.”

Dean just snorted and continued to roll skee balls until he ran out. He eagerly waited for the machine to spit out his tickets only to be disappointed by the arrival of three measly tickets. Dean grudgingly stuffed the tickets in his pocket while Alyssa continued to watch him silently. She sighed, beginning to blush, and handed him her stack of tickets,

“Here. Only played this because of you anyway.”

Dean took the tickets enthusiastically, cheerily rustling her hair in return – drawing noises of complaint from her. As Alyssa tried to fix her hair, Jean the manager left the room she, Sydney, and Sam had gone into. Dean, who was about to start another round of skeeball, watched her pass and tossed the ball he had in hand without looking before walking away to tail her. The ball went directly into the highest-scoring hole causing the machine’s alarms to go off, signaling his win. Alyssa was stuck looking after Dean and back to the machine,

“W-wait! Dean, hold on!”

Dean followed Jean out to the back of the building where he watched her pull out a joint and begin to light up. He pulled out his phone to text Sam,

“ _High Times not our gal._ ”

 

“ **Special** Agents? Wow! I want you to know, sir, ma’am, that I really appreciate what you both do, and–” The skinny red-headed man said looking at Sam and Sydney’s business cards.

“Quiet.” Sam said strictly, silencing the man immediately.

 

A little chubby ginger kid was now sitting on the skee ball machine, taking all the balls and shoving them directly into the highest-scoring holes. Another kid came up, yelling at the ginger in a reprimanding tone,

“Hey! Stop cheating!”

The chubby ginger just gave the kid an “ _eat shit and die_ ” stare and continued with what he was doing. Suddenly Dean walked up, yelling at the ginger intimidatingly,

“You heard him. Knock it off!”

The chubby kid quickly hightailed it off of the machine and ran away. Simultaneously both the other kid and Dean said,

“Jackass.”

They both looked at one another and smiled. A worker called after the kid,

“Tyler, soup’s on.”

Just as the kid left Dean, Alyssa walked up,

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you. Was the manager our perp?”

“Nah, she was too busy getting higher than a kite. By the way, where’d you go? How come you didn’t follow me?” Dean asked as he went to retrieve the tickets the chubby little ginger left behind at the skee ball machine.

Alyssa held out a bundle of tickets to him,

“You scored a ball in the highest-scoring hole when you walked away. So, I stayed behind to grab your winnings.”

Dean grinned as he took the tickets from her,

“Ah man, thank you. You’re a life saver.”

As he went and messed with her hair again in a grateful gesture, she immediately tried fixing her hair again, blushing slightly as she said,

“Don’t mention it.”

They then overheard the argument the kid, Tyler, and the worker were having,

“But, mom, I don’t want–”

“Just eat it.”

“But it sucks!”

Tyler’s mother just sighed and walked away, leaving a sulking Tyler alone with a slice of pizza. He shoved the plate of food away with a look of disgust, grabbing a placemat and coloring utensils instead. Dean walked over to the kid’s table, folding up the tickets and putting them away as he went, with Alyssa trailing after him.

“Hey, why don’t you cut her some slack?”

“What do you care?” Tyler asked curiously, looking up at Dean.

“Because I’ve been where you are.”

Alyssa nodded in agreement.

“Your mom made you camp at a stupid Plucky’s after school?”

“Y– no. No, but my dad, he…hauled me places. Besides, she’s working a tough gig. You know? She’s exhausted. You should take pity on the old. And, hey, free grub.” Dean smiled at Tyler.

“While I agree with everything you just said, I have to say I disagree with that last bit. You’ve obviously never had food from joints like this. It’s awful.” Alyssa finally spoke up.

“Yeah. That stuff tastes like butt.” Tyler said in agreement with Alyssa.

“What? Come on, it can’t be that bad. Let’s see here.” Dean said grabbing the plate of pizza and taking a bite. Tyler watched on in curiosity as Alyssa cringed in mock-horror.

Dean chewed a few times before saying,

“Ah.”

And spit everything back onto the plate.

“That **is** butt.” He continued placing the plate back down on the table.

Alyssa gave Dean an “ _I told you so_ ” look while Tyler smiled, laughing quietly at Dean’s comical “performance.”

Dean then noticed Tyler’s placemat. It had a robot shooting lasers from its eyes.

“You scared of robots?”

“They have laser eyes.” Tyler said pointing to his eyes.

“Yes.” Dean nodded in affirmation while Alyssa nodded contemplatively from behind him.

The skinny red-headed worker passed by them then. A kid came up to him, tugging on his shirt,

“Excuse me, sir.”

“Howdy, friend! What’s your name?”

“Evan.”

“Alright!” The man said shaking the kid’s hand.

Dean turned to Alyssa giving her a look while he pulled out his phone to text Sam,

“ _Nope_ ”

 

Sam put his phone away as he finished reading Dean’s text, looking up at the new “perp” – the lion mascot. Sydney had settled back into one of the room’s corners again. Sam pointed to the mascot’s head then pointed up,

“Lose the head.”

The mascot removed the lion head revealing a young man with long dark hair.

“Why’d you do it?” Sam asked him suspiciously.

“Do what…?” The kid asked with a deer-in-the-headlights look.

“I think you know.” Sydney said coming forward, staring the boy down.

“I…I got rights! You can’t –”

Sam threw the chair in front of him to the side violently, slamming his hand down on the table while leaning toward the kid,

“We’re the federal government, pal. We can do whatever we want!”

The kid lifted his hands up in surrender, eyes wide as saucers,

“Alright. I’ll talk…”

It was silent a moment when he suddenly threw the mascot head at Sam and ran out the door. Sydney immediately going after him with Sam tailing behind,

“Hey!”

 

Dean and Alyssa were at the skee ball machines again when the headless mascot raced past them from the “interrogation room.” Seeing Sydney and Sam burst out from the room they too began chasing after the mascot. As the trio disappeared from the main room of the building, Sydney and Sam were suddenly held up when the clown came into their path, seeing what was up like everyone else. They fidgeted around for a couple seconds before Sam finally snapped out of it and grabbed Sydney’s hand, dragging her with him as the went around the clown, giving him a wide berth. The mascot slammed the doors to the back of the building open as he ran out with Alyssa and Dean not that far behind him – Sam and Sydney following them shortly after. As they ran through the parking lot, Alyssa and Dean quickly closed the distance before Dean was finally within arm’s reach, shouting after the kid,

“Hey! Hey!”

He tried grabbing at the costume – grabbing at the tail, only for it to easily come off. Dean threw the tail away, redoubling his chasing efforts, while Alyssa kept trying to keep up. Sydney and Sam were still a couple feet behind when Dean finally dove into the boy causing the two to crash into a tire stand. While Alyssa was cringing in sympathetic pain for Dean, Sam and Sydney finally caught up to them. Dean righted himself, clutching the mascot’s collar harshly.

“If this is about the meth lab that fire-balled up in Butte, it wasn’t me. Okay, it was my brother, but, um, we got the same fingerprints, and... Please. This is the best job I ever had.” The mascot pleaded breathily.

“Alright, look, uh…” Dean started.

“Cliff.” The mascot filled in for him.

“Cliff. You’re not using kid’s nightmares to smoke people are you, Cliff?” Dean asked.

Cliff looked confused,

“…I don’t think so?”

Dean looked up at the rest of his group – Alyssa and Sydney shrugged while Sam looked just as confused as Cliff. Dean looked back down at Cliff before standing and pulling the kid up with him,

“Get up.”

“Wh-what’s going on?” Cliff asked.

“Alright, card’s up. We don’t care that you, uh, broke bad or whatever.” Dean began.

Alyssa and Sydney closed their eyes, making faces, trying to ignore his reference while Sam still looked confused.

“But there is something seriously weird going on in there.”

“You mean in the sub-basement.” Cliff assumed.

“This place has a sub-basement?” Sam asked.

“Sure. Door’s out back.” Cliff said, turning to the other three hunters,

“Easy to miss if you don’t know.”

“What’s in there?” Sydney asked.

“All’s I know is, me and Saul used to come in after hours sometimes and –” Cliff said before bursting into laughter turning to Dean,

“You ever ‘shroom in a ball pit?”

Cliff continued to laugh until he turned back to the other three, seeing Sam and Sydney, he quickly sobered up,

“Not that I would, agents. It was Saul, just Saul. All alone. Anyway, sometimes we’d hear like, spooky stuff – through the vents. Coming up from the boiler room.”

 

The group walked back in just as Tyler’s mom came up to Tyler.

“Okay, kiddo, let’s go.” Tyler’s mom said, all packed up and ready to leave.

“But somebody stole it!’ Tyler told his mom.

“So draw another one!” She suddenly grabbed Tyler’s face in frustration,

“Okay? We’ve gotta go.”

Tyler looked over and saw Dean and Alyssa who gave him looks that said,

“ _Mind your mother._ ”

Tyler looked back to his mom,

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

His mom looked taken aback,

“I– thank you.”

“That placemat sucked anyway.” Tyler smiled sweetly.

Just as soon as the two left, the group went over to investigate the table. Dean looked through the placemats while the rest watched on in curiosity.

“Dean, what? What is it?” Sam asked.

“While you two were out being Dirty Harry, uh, Tyler’s mom got pissy with him and now his placemat’s missing.” Dean explained to Sam and Sydney.

Alyssa’s eyes widened in realization while Sam and Sydney still looked confused.

 “So what are you thinking?” Sydney asked, brows knit.

“I think the bitchy mom plus, uh, sad kid plus, uh, placemat with something nuts written on it… equals wacky corpse.” Dean theorized.

“So you think she’s next on the list.” Alyssa said.

Dean nodded in affirmation.

“Alright, we’ll tell them just to be safe. You guys –” Sam pointed at himself and Sydney then to Dean and Alyssa.

“Check the boiler room, we know.” Dean said.

The four began to split up before Sam suddenly turned back,

“Oh, oh! Guys, wait! Any idea what he drew?”

“A robot.” Alyssa answered.

“A robot?” Sydney questioned.

“Yeah, about the size of a house. Shoots destruct-o beams out of its eyes.” Dean described.

Sydney and Sam just looked at them deadpan before Sam nodded,

“Well, at least we’ll see it coming.”

Alyssa nodded contemplatively while Dean just smiled humorlessly,

“Yeah.”

 

Alyssa and Dean picked open the door to the boiler room and stealthily moved inside, pulling their flashlights and guns out. Moving further inside they soon discovered a lit burn barrel placed in a ritual circle.

“Well that’s perfectly normal.” Alyssa commented.

They went and gave closer inspection to the desk next to the circle. It was covered in clown paraphernalia, art supplies, and children’s drawings. Dean found a picture of two little boys posing behind a birthday cake that said,

“Happy Birthday Howard”

Alyssa looked through the ritual book that was table over, finding Tyler’s drawing underneath it as Dean came up next to her.

“Drop it.” A man’s voice said coolly from behind the two.

They turned to find the skinny red-headed man pointing a gun at them.

“Drop it!” He repeated louder.

They calmly placed their guns to the floor, holding their hands up in surrender.

“Mhm. Now, kick them over.”

They kicked their guns away from them, not to the man himself. Not exactly abiding his wishes but they figured it’d be good enough.

“Some pretty heavy hoodoo you got here.” Dean told the man,

“I gotta say, as far as I know, none of these things, uh, could poop out a unicorn.”

“There’s power… in fear.” The man said walking towards the two,

“And when a child draws… what he’s afraid of… a little of that – mojo – ends up on the page.”

“So, what? You toss it in the fire and some bed-wetter’s horror show comes to life?” Alyssa asked.

“I’ve gotta get something off the parent too.” The man explicated.

Alyssa and Dean gave him a look to further clarify.

“Something they own… And that bit gets tricky.” The man smiled with a soft chuckle.

“Well that hasn’t seemed to slow you down.” Dean smiled back sarcastically.

The man frowned, looking a bit peeved,

“I’m **just** doing what I need to.”

Dean laughed softly, trying to relieve the tension,

“Okay, okay. I get it. Okay?”

He suddenly threw the huge ritual tome at the man’s face while Alyssa grabbed Tyler’s drawing and ripped it in half. The man collected himself, pointing the gun back at the two. Alyssa held the ripped up pieces out,

“No drawing, no iron giant!”

She crumpled the pieces and threw them to the ground.

“Ohhh! That b-word is still on the list! But not tonight. Bigger fish!”

“What are you gonna do – shoot us, Howard? You really want bodies on your hands? Blood everywhere?!” Dean yelled.

“You shut up! Cause I’ve got lots of ways to take care of bullies! Don’t you worry! Like those FBI guys, they’re your pals, right? I saw you chase Cliff down. Five minutes ago, their business cards were torched. Along with something from my… personal collection.” Howard chuckled reaching behind him and picking up more kids’ placemats,

“I-I-I picked it out real special for them too. Soon as I saw them, I noticed. Staring at every little Plucky like it was gonna stab them or something.”

Sam and Sydney watched from their car as Tyler and his mom got out from their car and went inside their house. They waited a moment before they got out, walking around it, when they were suddenly met with a creepy red-eyed, long green-haired clown that smiled at them maliciously. They jumped back in fear, gasping. The clown walked towards them, laughing maniacally.

“Those guys’ve got a real thing about clowns.” Howard smiled.

 

RIGHT FRIGGIN’ NOW:

 

Sam and Sydney kicked the auto shop’s door in, closing it after them before the long-haired clown could get in. They barricaded it with all the heavy things they could find that they could move. When they moved into the room, the clown opened the door easily as if nothing were even barricading it. They turned to run when they were met with the curly-haired clown who quickly closed in on them. Sam shot the curly-haired clown and proceeded to be beaten up while Sydney was thrown across the room into some toolboxes becoming knocked out.

 

“Well, hey, these are, uh, really nice dolls. Did you paint them yourself?” Alyssa asked with a sweet smile as she looked behind her, noticing the little painted figurines.

Howard just stared back silently while Dean picked up one of the figurines – a clown – and said whilst examining it closer,

“Ahh, friggin’ Plucky.”

“Plucky helps kids. It’s all I ever wanted to do. And when the management slot opened up, I…” Howard began to explain when he started to frown,

“But they passed me over.”

“Shocker.” Dean commented sarcastically as he went to put the figurine back down or at least pretended to.

“No, I told them, ‘no one cares more than me.’ But suits never listen. So, I’m doing it my way.” While Howard continued to explain, Dean slipped the figurine into his back pocket on the sly.

“So let me get this straight. You didn’t get the good parking space, so you start dropping bodies?” Dean asked with furrowed brows.

“Those parents were horrible. They deserved what they got.” Howard calmly explained.

“What about Saul?” Alyssa asked.

“Saul had a big mouth!” Howard said with a raised voice.

 

The clowns continued to beat on Sam, tossing him between the two of them. The long-haired clown began to spray him in the face with water from his little squirting flower.

 

“Some guy hits on the babysitter, all of a sudden he’s the world’s worst dad?” Dean asked incredulously.

“A good parent puts his kids first.” Howard said.

“And having a little girl watch her dad get killed by the closet monster – that’s putting her first? Having those kids grow up without their fathers – that’s doing right by them?!” Alyssa walked towards Howard, growing angry.

“In the long run, they’ll all be better off.” Howard tried to justify.

“You think so? Really?” Dean gave Howard a snide look.

“ **I** would have been.” Howard clarified, looking behind the two.

Dean and Alyssa looked back, seeing the kids drawings hung up on the wall above the desk. In one drawing it looked like one stick figure was floating on the water while one was sinking, drowning. In another, it looked like a kid was at the bottom of the ocean, frowning. They noticed the picture of the two little boys again, posing behind a birthday cake.

“So, your brother. What happened to him?” Dean asked, turning back to Howard.

“It’s not my fault! It’s theirs!” Howard started to grow upset.

 

Sam was thrown into the windshield of a car, grunting in pain as the windshield shattered and caved in under his weight. He slid off hood, going between the clowns. The curly-haired clown Sparta-kicked him back to the long-haired clown but Sam threw an elbow back into the clown’s face before it could do anything to him. Sam then went forward and smacked the curly-haired clown across the face with a tire iron causing the clown to cry out in pain.

 

“Looks to me like he drowned.” Dean observed.

“I was screaming… but my folks… they didn’t listen. They **never** listened!” Howard was becoming worked up.

“It was an accident.” Alyssa tried to explain calmly.

“They let him **die**!” Howard yelled.

 

The long-haired clown came swinging at Sam with a large pipe wrench, who quickly dodged out of the way and then hit the clown with the tire iron in retaliation. The clown threw the wrench to the curly-haired clown as he was knocked back just before Sam could hit him again with the iron. The curly-haired clown smacked the wrench across Sam’s abdomen causing him to double over in pain. Sam took the iron and dragged it up between the clown’s legs, bashing right into its groin – only making the clown laugh more. Sam turned around, swinging the iron as he went, and bashed the long-haired clown in the face – sending one of its rotten teeth flying, glitter scattering everywhere.

 

Dean grabbed one of the drawings off of the wall before walking towards Howard,

“I bet you still have nightmares. In fact, I’ll bet you haven’t been in the water since.”

“Shut up!” Howard shouted at him.

“It’s because you’re afraid.” Dean stopped in front of the burn barrel before suddenly pulling out the clown figurine he’d hidden in his pocket and threw both it and the drawing into the fire.

“NO!!” Howard screamed as the objects burst into fire.

When the fire died down enough for him to see again, Howard shot at Alyssa and Dean several times – both of them diving to ground. They both went for their guns and aimed before Howard suddenly stopped shooting. A young boy – that looked like one of the boys from the birthday picture – who was completely soaked appeared in front of Howard. The boy looked down at bullet wounds Howard had made in his body. The boy looked up at Howard while Howard looked completely terrified. As the boy walked towards him, Howard began to whimper,

“It wasn’t my fault. I’m sorry.”

Alyssa and Dean stood up just as the boy closed in on Howard. The boy touched Howard’s hand, causing him to immediately drop to his knees. Howard began gasping loudly before abruptly spewing water everywhere. The boy stared him down as Howard sat there and choked while Alyssa and Dean could only watch on in shock.

 

The clowns gave war cries as they charged at Sam with weapons as Sam cowered. Just as the clowns had reached him, the two burst into an explosion of glitter out of nowhere. Sam straightened – looking around wildly – before breathing in relief and spit out some glitter.

 

Alyssa and Dean were leaning against the Mercury Cougar as Sam and Sydney drove up in a silver 2000 Jeep Cherokee. The two looked completely beat, the exception being Sam was completely covered from head to toe in glitter.

“Let’s roll.” Sam said spinning his finger.

Dean looked like he was trying not to laugh while Alyssa ran over to her sister, beginning to worry over her,

“Are you okay?! What happened?”

“I’m fine. Sam got the brunt of it. But I do think I may possibly have a concussion.” Sydney winced as she felt the knot at the back of her head.

“What about you, Sam? You’re bleeding.” Alyssa looked at Sam in concern.

“I’ll be fine. Some bumps and bruises. I’ll definitely be sore for a while but I’m alright.” Sam reassured her before noticing Dean still trying to not smile. He held up his arms and sighed,

“Go ahead. Say it.”

Dean openly laughed,

“I’m sorry. You look like you got attacked by some PCP-crazed strippers.”

Everyone else cracked out into smiles. Sam explained while trying not to laugh himself,

“Dude, one of them sprayed me with seltzer from his flower.”

This caused Dean to laugh harder. Alyssa and Sydney began to laugh along with him – Sydney stopping off short as she grimaced in pain,

“Oh. Stop. Laughing makes my head hurt more.”

Sam couldn’t help but smile as he gave Dean a look. Dean tried to calm down,

“I’m s– whew.”

“What?” Dean asked when Sam continued looking at him.

“Nothing. Carry on.” Sam smiled.

“Ohh… Sam…I’m sorry for... psychologically scarring you.” Dean cleared his throat.

Sam looked at Dean with narrowed eyes,

“Which time?”

Alyssa laughed out loud,

“There’s more than one occasion?!”

“Shut up. Seriously. You know, me ditching you when we were kids – that was a dick move. You know, the whole clown thing…” Dean explained.

“You know what, man? Honestly…getting my ass kicked by those juggalos tonight was…it was therapeutic.” Sam tried looking on the brighter side of things.

“You faced your fear.” Dean smiled.

“Exactly. And now what else could a clown possibly ever do to me? I feel good.” Sam smiled back.

“Well, congrats.”

“Oh, good for you but not me! If anything, I’m more afraid of clowns now than ever! I’ve got a legitimate reason to fear them too. Two murderous psycho clowns tried to kill me – even knocked me out!” Sydney became worked up – Alyssa patted her arm gently to comfort her.

“Anyway, to celebrate…” Sam said before going to the back of the jeep and pulling something out.

“What?” Dean asked.

Sam came back with a big rainbow slinky – the one Dean had been eyeing before.

Dean gasped,

“No!”

“Yes!” Sam smiled.

“Did you win this?” Dean asked, coveting his new prize already.

“We earned that.” Sam pointed to it as he walked over to get in the Cougar.

“Well at least we didn’t earn all those tickets for nothing!” Alyssa smiled happily as she helped Sydney to the car.

“Ha ha! Hey. I got you a little something, too, actually.” Dean told Sam.

He reached into the car and threw something at Sam – that something being a clown puppet. Sam recoiled, holding the puppet a little away from himself.

“What? You said you were over it. You can think of it as a…clown phobia sobriety chip.”

Sydney screamed when she realized what it was, almost running Alyssa over as she tried to scramble away. As Alyssa tried to calm her sister down and Sam continued to hold the puppet out, they both glared at Dean.

“You’re such an ass.” Alyssa scowled as Dean continued to chuckle to himself.

 

As the four drove away, the puppet was left behind in the parking lot with its head snapped off.


End file.
